AN   OUTLINE   OF   POLITICAL   GROWTH 
IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY 


'J  w^^"^ ' 


AN    OUTLINE 


OF 


POLITICAL    GROWTH 


IN 


THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY 


BY 

EDMUND   HAMILTON   SEARS,  A.M. 

PRINCIPAL   OF   MAKY    INSTITUTE,    SAINT    LOUIS 


THE   MACMILLAN   COMPANY 

LONDON:  MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  Ltd. 
1900 

All  rigliU  reserved 


Copyright,  1900, 
By  the  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 


NortoooB  ^rrss 

J.  S.  Cushing  &  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith 
Norwood  Mass.  U.S.A. 


PREFACE 

The  nineteenth  century  has  had  a  peculiarly  interesting 
history.  Its  achievements  have  been  so  rich  and  varied  as  to 
bewilder  the  mind  that  tries  to  apprehend  them  each  and  all 
with  clearness  and  accuracy.  In  art  there  has  been  a  return 
to  nature,  with  many  gratifying  and  some  subtle  and  ques- 
tionable residts.  The  same  tendency  has  manifested  itself  in 
poetry,  and  is  to  be  traced  through  such  widely  differing 
authors  as  Wordsworth,  Leconte  de  Lisle,  and  Pushkin.  Both 
romanticists  and  realists  have  made  brilliant  contributions  to 
fiction,  and  the  decadents  have  at  least  called  forth  a  storm 
of  criticism.  History  has  seen  the  development  of  the  trained 
specialist  and  original  investigator.  Science  has  fathomed 
some  of  nature's  deepest  secrets  and  revolutionized  industry. 
And  in  the  domain  of  politics  the  people  have  put  forth  their 
strength  and  obtained  constitutions. 

These  are  merely  a  few  of  the  notable  movements  of  the 
century.  All  of  those  that  are  here  enumerated  have  accom- 
plished vast  results,  and  which  of  them  is  the  more  important 
and  significant  cannot  be  said.  Science  has  effected  stupen- 
dous changes ;  but  so  too  have  the  revolutions  in  politics  been 
far-reaching  and  momentous.  It  is  largely  through  those 
revolutions  that  the  human  mind  has  been  emancipated,  dead- 
ening tyranny  abolished,  and  science  allowed  to  work  its 
beneficent  reforms.  It  would  therefore  appear  that  the  politi- 
cal progress  of  the  century  has  been  of  a  vital  and  funda- 
mental character,  and  that  the  successive  triumphs  of  popular 
institutions  cannot  but  form  a  profoundly  interesting  story. 


vi  PREFACE 


It  is  just  that  story  that  is  recorded  in  the  following  pages. 
Wherever  the  people  have  taken  the  government  into  their 
own  hands,  or  forced  a  recognition,  however  imperfect,  of  their 
chartered  rights,  they  have  been  included  in  this  brief  account 
of  political  growth  and  progress.  But  though  the  work  claims 
to  be  only  an  outline  and  by  no  means  an  original  investiga- 
tion, it  is  not  a  mere  record  of  political  facts  and  constitu- 
tional changes.  Indeed,  it  would  be  difficult  to  define  a 
political  fact.  Oriental  peoples  do  not,  as  a  rule,  have  any 
political  life,  and  do  not  grow  or  change  from  one  century 
to  another.  But  among  the  progi-essive  nations  all  historic 
events  have  in  the  end  a  political  significance ;  for  out  of 
them  arises  the  whole  framework  of  government  and  consti- 
tutional life.  Hence  it  is  as  difficult  to  make  a  history  out  of 
mere  legislative  annals  as  it  is  to  make  bricks  out  of  sand. 
Congressional  records  have  no  cohesion  apart  from  everyday 
circumstance.  Accordingly,  the  present  treatise  deals  with  all 
the  varied  events  and  happenings  that  make  up  the  story  of  a 
nation's  life,  even  wars  receiving  some  mention,  though  they 
are  not  narrated  in  detail. 

Doubtless  many  would  assert  that  a  record  of  political 
growth  should  be  a  record  of  movements  and  tendencies 
rather  than  an  account  of  individual  countries,  and  that  tides 
of  progress  which  have  swept  over  the  whole  world  cannot  be 
adequately  described  when  each  nation  has  its  own  separate 
treatment.  That  there  is  force  in  this  objection  may  be 
readily  admitted ;  but  the  fact  remains  that  a  nation  cannot 
be  a  nation  unless  it  has  a  life  and  history  of  its  own.  It  was 
to  portray  that  life  and  history  that  the  present  work  was 
written,  and  the  separate  treatment  was  designedly  adopted. 
There  are  excellent  works  that  emphasize  the  unity  of  con- 
temporaneous movements  and  events;  but  their  very  plan 
prevents  them  from  giving  a  connected  sketch  of  each  country 


PREFACE  vii 


that  is  treated,  and  the  connected  sketch  is  for  many  purposes 
convenient  and  desirable. 

It  is  hoped  that  even  this  meagre  outline  of  events  may 
awaken  an  interest  in  political  study,  and  create  a  desire  for 
a  fuller  knowledge  of  the  progress  of  democracy.  For  the 
benefit  of  all  who  may  be  so  stimulated  a  bibliography  is 
placed  at  the  end  of  the  volume.  It  is  by  no  means  exhaust- 
ive, and  is  not  intended  for  the  advanced  specialist  who  is 
sure  to  have  access  to  the  many  admirable  and  learned  bibliog- 
raphies that  have  been  published.  But  to  many  students  who 
seek  fuller  information  than  the  present  volume  affords  it 
may  serve  a  useful  purpose. 

E.  H.  S. 


Saint  Louis,    . 
January,  1900. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Introduction c...! 


Book  I 
CONTINENTAL  EUROPE 

Part  I 
THE  LATIN  NATIONS 

CHAPTER   I 
The  French  Revolution  and  Napoleon 15 

CHAPTER   II 

The  Congress  of  Vienna.  — The  Bourbon  Restoration. — Louis 

Philippe 28 

CHAPTER   III 
The  Second  Republic.  —  The  Second  Empire      ....       38 

CHAPTER   IV 
The  Third  Republic 46 

CHAPTER   V 
Italy 75 

CHAPTER  VI 
Spain 96 


X  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER    VII 

PAGE 

Portugal 113 

CHAPTER  VIII 
Belgium 122 

CHAPTER   IX 
Two  Minor  Statks  :  San  Marino  and  Andorra  ....     130 

Part  II 
SOUTHEASTERN  EUROPE  AND  RUSSIA 

CHAPTER   I 
Austria-Hungary 137 

CHAPTER   II 
The  Balkan  States         .........     154 

CHAPTER   III 
Russia 180 

Part  III 
THE    TEUTONIC  NATIONS 

CHAPTER  I 
Germany 197 

CHAPTER   II 
Holland 215 

CHAPTER   III 
Denmark  and  Iceland 224 


CONTENTS  xi 

CHAPTER   IV 

PAGE 

Sweden  and  Norway       .........     236 

CHAPTER   V 
Switzerland     ...........     249 

Book  II 
GREAT   BRITAIN   AND   HER   COLONIES 

CHAPTER    I 

Character    of    Great    Buitain's    Political     Progress.  —  Her 

History  from    1800  to  the  Death  of  George  III.  in  1820  .     265 

CHAPTER   II 
George  IV. —William  IV 277 

CHAPTER    III 
Queen  Victoria's  Rkign  to  the  Death  of  Lord  Palmerston  .     286 

CHAPTER   IV 
Mr.  Gladstone. — Lord  Beaconsfield.  —  Recent  Events  .     298 

CHAPTER   V 
Canada. — Newfoundland 331 

CHAPTER   VI 
Australia 347 

CHAPTER    VII 
New  Zealand 357 

CHAPTER    VIII 
South  Africa 365 


Xll  CONTENTS 

Book  III 

THE   UNITED   STATES 
CHAPTER   I 

PAGE 

The  Beginnings  of  the  Republic 383 

CHAPTER   II 

The  Administrations   of    Washington,  John  Adams,  and  Jef- 
ferson          387 

CHAPTER   III 

The  Administrations  of  Madison,   Monroe,   and  John  Qdinct 

Adams 394 

CHAPTER   IV 
The  Administrations  of  Jackson  and  Van  Buren      .        .         .     403 

CHAPTER   V 
The  Administrations  of  Harrison  and  Tyler,  Polk,  and  Tay- 
lor AND  Fillmore     .........     407 

CHAPTER   VI 
The  Administrations  of  Pierce  and  Buchanan  ....     414 

CHAPTER   VII 
Lincoln's  Administration. — The  Civil  War       ....     422 

CHAPTER   VIII 
The  Administrations  of  Johnson  and  Grant.  —  Reconstruction    426 

CHAPTER   IX 
The  Administrations  of  Hayes,  Garfield,  and  Arthur   .        .     437 

CHAPTER   X 
The  Administrations  of  Cleveland,  Harrison,  and  McKinley    445 


CONTENTS  xiii 

Book  IV 

SPANISH  AND   POKTUGUESE  AMERICA 

CHAPTER   I 

PAGE 

Mexico 479 

CHAPTER   II 
Central  America 490 

CHAPTER  III 
South  America 506 

Book  V 
UNCLASSIFIED   COUNTRIES 

CHAPTER   I 
Liberia 539 

CHAPTER   II 
The  Republic  of  Haiti 542 

CHAPTER   III 
The  Republic  of  Santo  Domingo 545 

CHAPTER   IV 
Japan 547 

CHAPTER   V 
India 561 

CHAPTER   VI 
SiAM 566 

Conclusion        .        , 568 


POLITICAL   GROWTH   IN   THE  NINETEENTH 

CENTURY 

INTRODUCTION 

The  French  Revolution  inaugurated  one  of  the  greatest 
epochs  of  history.  Prior  to  the  Revokition  government  by 
tlie  people  was  hardly  known  on  the  continent  of  Europe. 
France,  Spain,  Italy,  Russia,  Prussia,  Austria,  and  all  the 
minor  Germanic  states  were  governed  in  the  interests  of  the 
privileged  classes.  Switzerland  during  the  seventeenth  and 
eighteenth  centuries  was  controlled  by  an  aristocracy,  and  was 
practically  a  dependency  of  France.  In  Denmark  the  nobility 
had  lost  much  of  its  ancient  prestige  and  influence,  as  its 
power  had  been  broken  by  a  political  revolution  in  1G60;  but 
the  king  exercised  autocratic  sway.  In  Sweden,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  nobles  usurped  the  power  and  made  the  king  little 
better  than  a  figure-head,  nntil  Gustavus  III.  reasserted  the 
royal  prerogative  toward  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century ; 
and  afterward  the  country  had  no  immediate  political  develop- 
ment. In  the  Netherlands,  tliough  the  spirit  of  equality  was 
prevalent,  it  had  not  created  a  democratic  form  of  govern- 
ment. England  was  the  only  European  country  in  which  the 
will  of  the  people  was  consulted  before  the  French  Revolution. 
Yet  England  was  by  no  means  a  true  democracy.  For  the 
king  exercised  his  power  in  an  arbitrary  and  despotic  manner, 
and  the  laboring  classes  could  not  vote  nor  find  deliverance 
from  cruel  laws.  Nowhere  in  Europe  were  the  people  truly 
their  own  masters.  They  could  not  vote;  they  could  not  make 
or  unmake  laws.  They  could  not  resist  the  exactions  of 
tyrannical  rulers  and  domineering  nobles.  The  theory  of  the 
divine  right  of  kings  Avas  widely  prevalent.  The  privileged 
classes  claimed  every  jot  and  tittle  of  their  rights,  and  the 

B  1 


INTRODUCTION 


common  people  were  not  supposed  to  have  any  rights  at  all. 
Consequently,  they  were  oppressed  and  neglected  in  many 
ways.  Lacking  power,  they  lacked  wellnigh  everything. 
They  suffered  from  hunger,  from  sickness,  and  from  excessive 
toil.  They  were  uncleanly,  ignorant,  and  degraded.  Their 
petty  offences  were  treated  as  crimes,  and  not  uncommonly 
punished  by  death.  Nor  could  they  be  sure  of  acquittal  when 
unjustly  accused.  Evidence  was  not  carefully  sifted  in  the 
court  of  justice;  and  a  poor  man  charged  with  crime  was 
assumed  guilty.  Little  was  done  to  relieve  the  condition  of 
the  sick,  the  insane,  and  the  impoverished.  The  day  of  hos- 
pitals and  asylums  had  not  come,  and  the  prisons  were  scenes 
of  brutality  and  ghastly  misery.  In  some  countries  the  poorer 
classes  received  much  worse  treatment  than  in  others,  but 
nowhere  were  they  able  to  better  their  condition.  To  do  this 
they  needed  the  power  to  make  and  unmake  laws;  and  this 
power  the  nineteenth  century  was  to  give  them.  The  old  order 
of  things  was  to  pass  from  the  hands  of  a  privileged  few  into 
the  hands  of  the  people.  Might  was  not  to  make  right  any 
longer.  A  new  era  of  justice,  equality,  and  liberty  was  to 
dawn  upon  the  oppressed  and  suffering  commoner;  and  it  was 
heralded  by  the  French  Revolution.  That  bloody  episode  in 
history  inaugurated  vast  political  and  social  changes,  which 
were  taking  place  all  through  the  nineteenth  century  and 
which  have  revolutionized  the  character  of  government  over  a 
great  part  of  the  civilized  world. 

These  changes  have  had  common  features  where  they  have 
occurred ;  but  they  have  not  produced  the  same  political  con- 
ditions in  all  countries  and  among  all  peoples.  That  were 
indeed  impossible.  For  they  have  been  introduced  into  lands 
differing  radically  from  each  other  in  historic  development, 
and  inhabited  by  races  of  widely  varying  characteristics  and 
methods  of  thought.  Democratic  government  could  not  mean 
to  the  Spaniard  what  it  means  to  the  Saxon ;  it  could  not  pro- 
duce the  same  results  among  the  Norwegians  and  the  Slavs. 
Accordingly,  a  history  of  the  political  growth  of  the  nineteenth 
century  should  be  something  more  than  an  unsystematized 
record  of  the  constitutional  changes  that  have  been  adopted  by 
the  progressive  nations  of  the  w^orld.  Rather  should  it  group 
together   those   countries   that   have   been    animated  by  like 


INTRODUCTION 


impulses  and  have  had  a  common  development  or  a  common 
political  experience.  That  such  a  classitication  cannot  be 
perfect  or  thoroughly  scientific  may,  at  the  outset,  be  acknowl- 
edged. No  matter  whether  the  principle  of  classitication  that 
is  adopted  be  geographical,  racial,  or  historical,  in  the  very 
nature  of  things  it  must  sometimes  be  at  fault.  For  nations, 
like  individuals,  are  free  agents  and  given  to  glaring  inconsis- 
tencies of  conduct.  Their  actions  cannot  be  reduced  to  rule 
and  theory.  The  political  philosopher  who  has  fathomed,  as 
he  thinks,  the  character  of  a  race,  a  period,  or  a  movement, 
suddenly  finds  himself  confronted  by  the  startling,  the  unex- 
pected, or  the  extraordinary,  and  his  well-constructed  theories 
fall  to  the  ground.  It  is  in  no  spirit  of  dogmatism,  therefore, 
that  the  countries  discussed  in  the  present  treatise  are  placed 
in  separate  political  groups.  Such  an  attempt  at  classitication 
is  made  largely  for  the  purposes  of  convenience.  By  means  of 
it  the  mind  of  the  reader  may  be  saved  from  confusion,  and 
the  work  may  be  saved  from  appearing  fragmentary  and  dis- 
connected. It  is  not  exclusively  the  geographical,  the  racial, 
or  the  historic  method  of  classitication  that  is  employed;  but 
rather  is  each  made  use  of  as  it  may  seem  to  be  appropriately 
applied.  Proceeding  upon  this  plan  we  may  recognize  the 
following  divisions  and  subdivisions  of  the  subject:  — 

I.  The  Countries  of  Co)ituie)ital  Europe. — These  countries 
are  grouped  together  because  their  geographical  connection 
has  given  them  a  common  political  experience.  This  is  true 
especially  of  particular  eras  or  periods,  when  a  common  im- 
pulse has  swept  over  the  whole  length  and  breadth  of  European 
soil.  It  was  illustrated  by  the  Crusades  in  the  Middle  Ages. 
The  union  of  nearly  all  Europe  against  Napoleon  is  a  further 
illustration.  Again,  the  revolutionary  outbreaks  in  1848  and 
the  socialistic  movements  in  recent  years  have  sliown  that  the 
term  "Europe  "  is  a  political  as  well  as  a  geographical  expres- 
sion, and  tliat  the  different  European  countries  are,  to  some 
extent,  forced  to  share  a  common  political  destiny.  Yet  these 
countries  have  by  no  means  progressed  together  toward  the 
modern  ideal  of  government  by  and  for  the  people.  Some  of 
them  have  been  truly  democratic;  others  have  used  the  powers 
of  democracy  to  cover  tyranny  and  despotism.  Three  subdi- 
visions of  the  European  nations  may  therefore  be  recognized. 


INTRODUCTION 


(1)  The  Latin  Countries.  It  was  in  France,  the  greatest  and 
most  brilliant  of  the  Latin  nations,  that  the  modern  demo- 
cratic movement  was  begun  by  the  French  Revolution.  The 
impulsive  and  excitable  French  people  suddenly  burst  the 
political  bonds  that  held  them,  threw  aside  all  restraint,  and 
asserted  their  freedom  by  violence,  fury,  and  blood-guiltiness. 
The  same  tendency  to  excess  has  marked  their  conduct  in  more 
recent  times,  as  the  atrocities  of  the  Commune  in  1871  and  the 
vindictive  persecution  of  Dreyfus  may  testify.  Explosiveness, 
vehemence,  and  sentimentality  characterize  the  French  people; 
and  these  same  traits  seem  to  belong  to  the  Latin  races  of 
Southern  Europe.  Hence,  in  Portugal,  in  Spain,  and  in  Italy, 
we  see  political  progress  accompanied  by  reckless  utterance, 
shifting  administrations,  unsteadiness  of  purpose,  and  seasons 
of  popvilar  apathy  succeeded  by  seething  discontent  and  revo- 
lutionary activity.  These  nations,  it  is  to  be  noticed,  have 
shown  themselves  quite  as  progressive  in  adopting  universal 
suffrage  as  the  better  educated  Teutonic  peoples ;  ^  but  in  no 
one  of  them  does  there  exist  a  government  that  can  properly 
be  called  democratic.  In  no  one  of  them  do  the  people  exer- 
cise an  intelligent  control  of  affairs. 

With  these  nations  is  to  be  classed  Belgium,  for  its  politics 
are  dominated  by  the  excitable  Southern  temper.  A  large 
portion  of  its  population  is  Germanic,  but  the  Celtic  element 
seems  to  have  given  its  characteristics  to  the  whole  nation  and 
to  have  controlled  its  political  development.  Hence  Belgium 
has  recently  made  radical  constitutional  changes  in  a  period  of 
feverish  excitement  attended  by  extensive  strikes  of  the 
workingmen. 

(2)  The  political  development  of  Russia,  Austria-Hungary, 
and  the  various  nations  of  Southeastern  Europe  has  been  re- 
tarded both  by  geographical,  racial,  and  historic  causes. 
Situated,  as  they  are,  these  countries  have  been  almost  as  much 
subject  to  Asiatic  as  to  European  influences;  they  are,  to  a 
considerable  extent,  peopled  by  races  that  have  the  subservient 
Oriental  temper;  and  they  were,  through  many  centuries,  the 
scene   of   internecine   conflicts,    cruel   tyranny,    and    strange 

1  Universal  suffrage  exists  in  France  and  Spain  ;  but  not  in  Italy  anrl  Portu- 
gal. It  is  found  in  Denmark  and  in  the  German  Empire ;  but  not  in  Holland, 
Sweden,  Norway,  nor  iu  most  of  the  separate  states  that  compose  Germany. 


INTRODUCTION 


political  vicissitudes.  In  vSoutbeastern  Europe,  the  Slav,  the 
German,  the  Turanian,  the  Greek,  the  Vlach,  the  Turk,  and 
the  Albanian  have  lived  side  by  side,  and  seldom  have  they 
mingled  in  amity  and  concord.  Among  these  peoples  the 
Austrian-Germans  have  held  a  peculiar  place.  Belonging  to 
the  great  Teutonic  race,  ruled  by  the  splendid  Hapsburg  House, 
dwelling  almost  in  the  shadow  of  the  Alps,  they  have  shared 
the  civilization  and  the  political  experiences  of  Western 
Europe.  But  in  the  end  they  were  forced  to  turn  rather  to  the 
East  than  to  the  West,  and  to-day  they  are  working  out  their 
destiny  with  Czechs,  Magyars,  Poles,  Ruthenians,  and  other 
uncongenial  peoples.  And  their  experience  is  not  dissimilar 
to  that  of  the  other  peoples  who  are  here  grouped  together. 
Austria,  Russia,  and  the  countries  of  Southeastern  Europe  are 
not  homogeneous.  It  is  rather  because  they  have  clashed  so 
frequently  that  they  have  been  slow  to  break  loose  from  the 
customs,  the  traditions,  and  the  political  ideals  of  the  past. 

(,'{)  Five  European  countries  —  Germany,  Holland,  Den- 
mark, Norway,  and  Sweden  —  are  peopled  by  various  branches 
of  the  Teutonic  race ;  and,  though  differing  widely  in  temper, 
manners,  and  customs,  the  inhabitants  of  these  countries  yet 
possess  common  aspirations,  common  race  instincts,  and  com- 
mon political  views.  These  countries  are  all  Protestant 
(tliough  Germany  is  one  third  Catholic) ;  they  all  have  admi- 
rable educational  systems;  and  in  all  of  them  the  people  are 
reflective  rather  than  emotional.^  Moreover,  in  all  these 
Teutonic  countries  two  traits,  dissimilar  and  yet  not  antago- 
nistic, are  found  to  be  deeply  rooted  in  the  national  character, 
—  independence,  and  respect  for  authority.  It  is  largely  owing 
to  these  traits  that  the  Teutonic  countries  have  been  moved  by 
the  same  political  ideals,  and  have  had  a  similar  political 
development.  All  of  them  have  clung  to  monarchy,  even 
Holland  having  ultimately  preferred  the  rule  of  a  king  to  a 
republican  form  of  government;  yet  all  of  them  have  hedged 
the  king  about  by  constitutional  safeguards,  which  protect  the 
people  from  tyranny  and  despotism.  As  the  subsequent  pages 
will  show,  these  safeguards  have  more  than  once  been  set  aside 

1  Such  hro.iil  pjoiK^.ralizatioiis  are  only  approximately  aceurate.  Tho  Dutch 
are  phlegmatic,  the  Danes  vivacious,  and  the  Norwegians  tiery  and  impetu- 
ous, like  the  old  Vikings,  when  once  aroused. 


INTRODUCriON 


by  self-willed  sovereigns ;  but  in  the  end  the  people  have  shown 
themselves  supreme,  and  have  not  allowed  the  liberty  of  the 
individual  to  be  sacrificed  to  the  outworn  theory  of  absolutism. 
True,  the  Emperor  of  Germany  has  shown  himself  an  autocrat, 
and  the  individual  who  stands  against  him  is  imprisoned  for 
Use-majeste ;  but  his  extravagant  self-assertion  has  offended 
the  thoughtful  portion  of  his  subjects,  and  the  growth  of  the 
Social  Democrats  in  Germany  points  to  the  ultimate  overthrow 
of  a  mediaeval  imperialism.  The  Teutonic  nations  move 
slowly,  but  they  move  toward  the  democratic  ideal  of  en- 
lightened self-government. 

With  these  nations  Switzerland  is  classed  in  the  present 
treatise,  because  the  Swiss  Confederation  had  a  Germanic 
origin  and  because  the  Cantons  are  to-day  largely  inhabited  by 
a  Germanic  population.  It  must  be  admitted  that  the  pecu- 
liarities of  its  political  organization  fairly  entitle  Switzerland 
to  a  place  by  itself,  and  make  it  difficult  to  class  it  with  any 
group  of  nations.  But  though  its  government  has  been  con- 
structed on  the  federative  plan  and  resembles  no  other  in 
Europe,  it  still  remains  true  that  the  Swiss  people  have  shown 
the  dominant  Germanic  traits  in  their  political  development. 
They  have  shown  a  sturdy  self-respect,  a  love  of  individual 
freedom,  and  a  tendency  to  recognize  constitutional  authority. 
Certainly,  the  political  growth  of  Switzerland  illustrates  the 
German  rather  than  the  French  view  of  government. 

II.  Great  Britain  and  her  Colonies.  —  One  remarkable  Ger- 
manic people  left  its  home  in  continental  Europe  many  centu- 
ries ago,  and  founded  what  was  destined  to  become  one  of  the 
greatest  of  modern  nations.  The  Saxons  are  treated  by  them- 
selves, both  because  their  island  home  has  made  them  inde- 
pendent of  the  rest  of  Europe,  and  because  their  political 
institutions  have  a  character  that  is  all  their  own.  Even  when 
the  divine  right  of  kings  was  generally  recognized,  the  Saxon 
began  to  demand  a  share  in  the  functions  of  government;  and 
this  demand  he  has  pressed  home  through  centuries  of  politi- 
cal warfare.  Hence,  the  English  parliamentary  system  grew  up 
and  gradually  became  the  most  perfect  example  of  representa- 
tive government  the  world  has  seen.  At  the  opening  of  the 
nineteenth  century  it  was  in  the  highly  developed  state  to 
which    seven   centuries  of   constitutional  life  and  effort  had 


INTRODUCTION 


brought  it ;  but  there  was  still  room  for  radical  changes,  and 
that  these  changes  were  brought  about  later  will  be  shown. 

But  the  Anglo-Saxon  people  was  too  full  of  life  and  energy 
to  confine  its  political  life  to  a  single  island.  The  race  spread 
all  over  the  world,  and  in  every  quarter  of  the  globe  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  laid  his  hand  on  rich  and  fertile  lands  and  claimed  them 
as  his  own.  As  his  claim  was  substantiated  and  these  posses- 
sions began  to  teem  with  Anglo-Saxon  homes,  the  same  politi- 
cal instincts  which  had  created  the  English  Constitution  caused 
a  new  and  notable  development  of  representative  institutions. 
The  Colonies  of  Great  Britain  borrowed  her  system  of  govern- 
ment; at  the  same  time  they  altered  it  and  adapted  it  to  more 
democratic  conditions  of  life  and  society  than  prevailed  in  the 
mother-country.  But  their  alterations  were  not  radical.  The 
colonial  systems  of  government  were  an  orderly  and  natural 
development  from  that  of  Great  Britain  herself,  not  a  sur- 
render of  those  political  privileges  which  the  Englishman 
holds  dear.  Hence,  the  Colonies  of  Great  Britain  are  appro- 
priately treated  in  connection  with  the  mother-country,  and 
as  makiug  a  part  of  one  vast  imperial  system  whose  members 
must  become  more  closely  allied  as  the  principles  of  federa- 
tion gain  strength  and  recognition. 

Not  all  of  the  British  Colonies,  however,  are  considered  in 
the  present  work,  for  not  all  of  them  by  any  means  have  had 
an  independent  political  development.  Three  classes  of  colo- 
nies are  recognized  by  tlie  British  government:  (1)  Crown 
colonies;  (2)  colonies  with  representative  institutions;  and 
(3)  colonies  having  responsible  government.  The  first  are 
controlled  entirely  by  the  Crown,  acting  through  its  ministers. 
The  second  are  controlled  partially,  the  Crown  having  the 
right  to  veto  legislation  and  exercising  authority  over  public 
officers.  The  last  recognize  the  Crown  as  the  ultimate  source 
of  power,  for  they  accept  the  Governor-General  whom  the 
Crown  appoints,  and  accord  to  him,  as  representing  the  sov- 
ereign, a  restricted  right  of  veto  over  legislation;  but  they 
frame  and  adopt  their  own  Constitutions  (with  the  approval  of 
the  British  Parliament),  and  they  choose  their  own  officers  in 
such  manner  as  the  Constitution  provides. 

Most  of  Great  Britain's  Colonies  belong  to  the  first  class;  a 
few  of  them   to   the   second;    while  Canada,  Newfoundland, 


INTRODUCTION 


the  Australian  Colonies,  New  Zealand,  Cape  Colony,  and  Natal 
belong  to  the  third.  These  last-named  colonies  are  peopled 
largely  by  Anglo-Saxons.  Hence,  possessing  an  English 
population  and  English  institutions,  they  are  appropriately 
placed  in  a  single  class  with  the  mother-country. 

III.  The  United  States  of  America. — This  great  American 
Republic  is  also  an  Anglo-Saxon  country.  Its  thoroughly 
democratic  system  of  government  is  plainly  a  product  of  the 
English  political  genius,  inspired  and  quickened  by  new  expe- 
riences in  a  new  and  stimulating  world.  But  just  because  of 
these  new  and  profound  experiences  the  American  Anglo- 
Saxons  could  not  simply  reproduce  on  American  soil  the  Eng- 
lish Constitution.  Hamilton,  English  by  birth,  would  fain 
have  done  this,  though  even  he  would  have  allowed  consider- 
able modifications.  Jefferson,  a  profounder  student  of  history, 
saw  that  America  must  have  its  own  development.  His  view 
prevailed,  and  the  Constitution  and  government  of  the  United 
States  are  the  expression  of  the  new  democracy,  which, 
through  the  federative  principle,  has  attained  to  national 
strength  and  greatness.  The  Americans  have  preserved  the 
English  love  of  liberty,  and  the  English  respect  for  the  rights 
of  the  people;  but  they  have  given  democratic  institutions 
such  free  and  full  development  that  their  country  has  nowhere 
been  more  fiercely  criticised  than  in  England  itself;  and  it 
should  be  considered  by  itself  both  because  of  its  individual 
character  and  its  vast  historic  importance. 

IV.  Mexico,  Central  America,  and  South  America.  —  These 
vast  stretches  of  country,  with  their  numerous  states,  have 
received  their  political  growth  from  the  people  of  the  Latin 
race.  Hence,  they  are  closely  allied  to  the  Latin  nations  of 
Europe,  and  throughout  the  nineteenth  century  they  have 
shown  the  same  restlessness  and  instability  that  have  charac- 
terized France,  Spain,  Portugal,  and  Italy.  But  the  conditions 
under  which  they  have  fouglit  their  way  to  independence  and 
adopted  democratic  institutions  have  been  adverse,  and  a 
lenient  judgment  may  fairly  be  passed  upon  their  short- 
comings. If  they  have  failed  to  become  genuine  republics, 
allowance  must  be  made  for  centuries  of  oppression,  for  a 
bigoted  priestly  rule,  for  prevailing  ignorance  and  super- 
stition, and  for  lack  of  political  training.     Yet  some  of  them 


INTRODUCTION 


have  made  notable  progress  in  spite  of  these  drawbacks,  and 
in  all  of  them  the  attempt  to  establish  republican  institutions 
shows  that  the  ideal  of  self-government  is  more  or  less  per- 
fectly followed.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  example  of  the 
United  States  has  inspired  the  people  of  these  countries  with 
a  love  of  democracy,  and  has  created  a  kinship  between  the 
Spanish  American  states  and  the  great  North  American  Re- 
public. These  countries,  therefore,  though  they  cannot  prop- 
erly be  classed  with  the  United  States,  may  fittingly  be  placed 
in  the  group  that  immediately  follows  it. 

V.  Unclassified  Countries.  —  Democracy  has  found  its  way 
into  every  continent,  but  in  Asia  and  Africa  it  has  thus  far 
received  a  very  scant  recognition.  The  African  race  has  not 
yet  shown  itself  capable  of  self-government.  It  has  attempted 
to  found  a  republic  in  West  Africa,  and  another  on  the  island 
of  Haiti,  but  neither  of  them  has  flourished.  The  mulattoes  of 
Haiti  have  also  founded  a  republic,  so  called,  which  goes  by 
the  name  of  San  Domingo;^  but  they  have  been  no  more 
successful  than  their  darker  brethren  in  establishing  demo- 
cratic rule.  Neither  Liberia,  Haiti,  nor  San  Domingo  has 
contributed  anything  to  the  political  progress  of  the  century. 

Asia  has  proved  hardly  more  congenial  than  Africa  to  the 
growth  of  constitutional  government;  yet  one  Asiatic  country 
has  made  astonishing  progress  in  the  last  few  decades. 
Japan,  after  borrowing  many  things  from  Europe,  finally  bor- 
rowed political  ideas  and  practices,  and  made  the  people  the 
rulers  of  the  country.  This  change  was  not  accomplished 
easily  or  all  at  once;  but  little  by  little  the  Japanese  learned 
the  meaning  of  responsible  government,  and  emancipated 
themselves  from  the  traditions  which  had  bound  them  for 
hundreds  of  years.  Their  recent  history  is  well  worthy  of 
study,  as  it  shows  that  even  in  the  Orient  the  warfare  of 
political  parties  has  become  a  chief  factor  in  national  progress 
and  development. 

No  other  Asiatic  country  besides  Japan  has  shown  marked 
democratic  tendencies;  but  for  reasons  that  are  given  in  their 
proper  connection  both  India  and  Siam  have  been  included  in 
the  present  treatise.     The  former  country,  however  much  or 

1  Or  Santo  Domingo.  But  usage  setans  to  prefer  San  Domingo  for  the  State, 
and  Santo  Domingo  for  its  capital  city. 


10  INTRODUCTION 


little  it  is  gaining  politically,  is  at  least  receiving  object-les- 
sons in  the  art  of  government;  and  Siam  has  lately  attracted 
attention  because  it  has  allowed  the  introduction  of  modern 
inventions  and  improvements. 

The  countries  that  have  been  thus  grouped  and  classified  do 
not  altogether  comprise  a  half  of  the  earth's  surface.  De- 
mocracy, therefore,  has  still  vast  fields  before  it  to  enter  and 
subdue.  But  it  is  a  significant  fact  that  the  races  possessing 
the  greatest  genius  for  government  are  continually  extending 
their  jurisdiction  over  new  territory,  and  thus  bringing  new 
lands  into  the  political  arena  of  the  world.  Australia,  New 
Zealand,  South  Africa,  and  vast  stretches  of  the  Dominion  of 
Canada  were  outside  of  the  sphere  of  politics  until  England 
brought  them  under  her  imperial  sway.  Nor  did  civilization 
enter  Siberia  until  Eussia  took  up  her  mighty  march  toward 
the  Pacific  Ocean.  It  was  indeed  a  sorry  type  of  civilization 
that  she  carried  into  the  Siberian  wilds.  Its  emblems  were 
but  too  frequently  the  knout,  the  dungeon,  and  the  convict's 
garb.  Yet  Russia  is  one  of  the  growing  and  progressive  nations 
of  the  world,  even  if  it  has  not  yet  adopted  constitutional  gov- 
ernment; and  the  spread  of  Russian  influence  must  ultimately 
mean  the  spread  of  commercial  activity,  law,  order,  and  educa- 
tion. Hence,  the  Slav,  as  well  as  the  Saxon,  is  contributing 
to  the  world's  political  development,  though  hardly  as  yet  to 
the  cause  of  democratic  government;  and  the  Latin  and  Teu- 
tonic peoples  are  furthering  the  same  end.  When  we  consider 
the  vast  areas  that  have  been  added  to  civilization  during  the 
last  hundred  years,  we  may  well  question  whether  a  history  of 
political  growth  in  the  twentieth  century  will  not  include 
nearly  all  the  countries  in  the  world. 


BOOK   I 
CONTINENTAL  EUROPE 


Part  I 

THE  LATIN  NATIONS 

FRANCE  PORTUGAL 

ITALY  BELGIUM 

SPAIN  SAN   MARINO 

ANDORRA 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION  AND  NAPOLEON 

Though  the  lot  of  the  people  was  quite  generally  an  un- 
happy one  prior  to  the  nineteenth  century,  in  France  it  was 
especially  hard.  The  States-General,  an  ancient  assembly 
composed  of  the  three  estates,  namely,  the  clergy,  the  nobility, 
and  the  commons,  had  been  summoned  by  Richelieu  in  1614. 
But  this  gathering  accomplished  nothing  at  that  time,  for  it 
had  no  legislative  power.  Accordingly,  it  was  ignored  for 
nearly  two  hundred  years,  and  during  this  time  the  people  had 
no  means  of  voicing  their  grievances.  Yet  these  grievances 
were  bitter  and  increasingly  great.  The  people  bore  the 
whole  burden  of  taxation,  while  the  clergy  and  the  nobles 
were  exempted.  The  kings  plunged  the  country  into  san- 
guinary wars,  and  exhausted  its  resources.  The  peasants  grew 
poorer  and  poorer,  and  died  in  great  numbers  from  famine. 
They  commonly  lived  in  houses  of  wood  and  stone  which  had 
no  windows.  They  dressed  in  rags  and  seldom  tasted  meat. 
In  some  districts,  indeed,  they  lived  chiefly  on  grass  and  the 
bark  of  trees.  Yet,  poor  and  squalid  as  they  were,  it  was  not 
their  poverty  alone  that  made  them  bitter  and  resentful.  For 
while  they  lived  in  misery,  the  court  was  extravagant  and  the 
nobles  were  riotous  and  prodigal.'  The  grimy  and  emaciated 
rustics  could  not  help  comparing  their  own  squalor  with  the 
luxury  of  the  privileged  few.  The  King  gave  away  every  year 
sums  equivalent  to  many  millions  of  dollars.  The  money 
spent  upon  his  dogs  and  horses  would  have  maintained  a  vil- 
lage; and  in  and  around  the  palace  no  less  than  fifteen  thou- 
sand people  found  support.  The  court,  moreover,  was  a 
scene  of  gayety  and  frivolous  pleasure  even  while  the  people 

1  "  The  court  was  the  tomb  of  the  nation,  but  it  was  as  well  a  charming  as 
a  brilliant  tomb."  — Von  Hoist,  "  The  French  Revolution,"  I.  74. 

16 


16  THE  LATIN  NATIONS  book  i 

were  perishing.  Louis  XVI.  did,  indeed,  pity  his  suffering 
subjects  and  try  to  help  them ;  but  the  nobles  and  ladies  about 
him  did  not  share,  or  even  understand,  his  kindness  of  heart. 
They  lived  simply  for  enjoyment.  Of  conscience  and  deep 
feeling  the  French  nobles  had  little.  Their  code  was  honor, 
not  morality;  and  though  they  were  faithful  to  it,  they  made 
it  sanction  vicious  habits  of  life.  Courage  and  loyalty  to  the 
King  were  their  especial  virtues;  and  these  virtues,  it  must  be 
admitted,  they  showed  conspicuously.  They  had  the  pride, 
the  spirit,  and  the  recklessness  that  result  from  power.  But 
toward  the  common  people  they  were  haughty  and  insolent. 
They  owned  large  estates,  but  they  used  them  merely  to  main- 
tain themselves  in  luxury.  The  peasantry  were  still  required 
to  give  them  certain  feudal  services;  and  these  services  were 
exacted  with  merciless  severity.  The  peasant  had  to  bake  in 
his  lord's  oven  and  grind  in  his  lord's  mill;  he  could  not  sell 
his  wine  until  the  great  estate  owner  had  had  his  chance  at 
the  market;  for  a  fixed  number  of  days  each  year  he  was  com- 
pelled to  give  his  own  labor  and  that  of  his  oxen  ;  and  he  was 
obliged  to  buy  salt  of  the  King  whether  he  wanted  it  or  not,  or 
else  go  to  prison  or  the  galleys.  The  taxes  were  absurdly 
high,  but  if  they  were  not  paid  the  delinquent's  furniture  was 
sold.  But  perhaps  the  most  wanton  and  galling  injustice 
arose  from  that  passionate  love  of  hunting  which  the  French 
nobility  shared  with  that  of  England  and  other  European 
countries.  For  no  matter  how  much  damage  the  game  did  to 
the  crops,  the  peasant  could  not  protect  himself.  It  was  a 
crime  for  him  to  slay  the  creatures  of  the  forest;  nor  could  he 
prevent  the  hounds  and  hunters  from  trampling  his  fields  of 
grain. 

For  all  these  abuses  there  was  no  remedy,  and  in  spite  of 
heavy  taxation,  the  nation  was  poor  also.  For  taxation  can- 
not make  prosperity.  An  impoverished  peasantry  cannot  long 
furnish  wealth  to  a  privileged  leisure  class.  The  nobles  gam- 
bled their  fortunes  away ;  the  extravagance  of  the  court  ex- 
hausted the  national  treasury.  The  nation  was  sinking  deeper 
and  deeper  into  debt.  To  provide  an  adeqiiate  income  became 
the  serious  and  indeed  the  impossible  task  of  the  King's  Minis- 
ter of  Finance.  One  man  after  another  was  tried  in  this  office, 
but  all  alike  failed.     ISTecker,  an  honest  and  capable  man,  only 


PART  I  THE  FRENCn  DEVOLUTION  AND  NAPOLEON     17 

revealed  the  true  state  of  affairs  to  the  public  without  finding 
any  remedy  for  it.  Calonne  resorted  to  dangerous  speculation 
which  soon  impaired  the  national  credit.  Brienne  suggested 
that  the  nobles  and  the  clergy  be  taxed,  but  they  refused,  and 
he  laid  down  his  office.  There  seemed  no  way  out  of  the  diffi- 
culty but  to  appeal  to  the  people.  This  the  King  did  by  sum- 
moning the  States-General,  and  by  this  step  he  inaugurated  the 
Revolution. 

That  tremendous  period  was  so  violent  and  so  sanguinary 
that  it  has  been  too  often  ji;dged  by  its  wantonness  and  its  ex- 
cesses. It  was  the  bane  of  the  Revolution  that  its  course  was 
guided  by  the  Parisian  populace;  and  that  populace  was  indeed 
a  scurrilous  crew.  The  men  and  women  that  composed  it 
were  vulgar,  coarse,  ignorant,  and  brutal.  Their  cruelty  and 
bloodthirstiness  took  away  from  the  movement  the  dignity 
that  should  have  belonged  to  so  vast  and  significant  an  upris- 
ing. The  self-control,  the  moral  earnestness,  and  the  noble 
love  of  freedom  that  characterized  the  English  resistance  to 
Charles  I.  were  conspicuously  wanting  in  Paris  in  1789,  when 
a  mob  of  fishwives  and  drunken  rioters  made  the  streets  run 
with  blood.  But  it  must  be  remembered  that  even  while  the 
worst  atrocities  of  the  time  were  being  perpetrated,  grave, 
dignified,  and  wise  attempts  at  legislation  were  being  made.^ 
It  was  not  in  vain  that  Louis  XVI.  summoned  the  States- Gen- 
eral, though  he  little  dreamed  that  the  Parliament  he  called 
into  being  would  sweep  the  feudal  structure  of  society  utterly 
away. 

Three  national  legislatures  sat  in  Paris  during  the  revolu- 
tionary period.  The  first  was  called  the  National  Assembly 
(later  the  Constituent  Assembly),  and  grew  out  of  the  States- 
General  called  together  by  the  King.  When  the  three  estates 
met  at  Versailles  on  May  5,  1789,  the  people's  representatives 
found  that  the  clergy  and  the  nobles  insisted  that  the  three 
orders  should  not  vote  individually,  but  by  class.  This  would 
mean  that  the  third,  or  people's  class,  would  always  be  de- 
feated by  a  vote  of  two  to  one.     For  the  clergy  and  the  nobility 

1  All  over  Frniice  tlie  grave  problems  of  the  hour  were  receiving  due  con- 
sideration, and  many  exeellent  schemes  of  reform  were  proposed.  Hence,  iu 
adopting  new  and  progressive  legislation,  the  Assembly  was  but  obeying  the 
will  of  the  nation.  Consult  tlie  {'ahicn-s,  or  memorials,  contained  iu  the 
"  Archives  Parlemeutaires,"  1  Serie,  Tome  3. 
c 


18  THE   LATIN   NATIONS  book  i 

would  invariably  combine  against  the  people.  If,  however, 
the  deputies  voted  individually,  the  people  could  outvote  the 
other  two  estates  combined;  for  their  representatives  were  584, 
while  the  clergy  numbered  291,  and  the  nobles  270.  As  the 
first  two  estates  would  not  consent  to  individual  voting,  the 
third  estate  took  matters  into  their  own  hands,  formed  an  as- 
sembly of  their  own,  and  invited  the  nobles  and  the  clergy  to 
join  them,  which  some  members  of  these  two  orders  reluctantly 
did. 

The  National  Assembly  sat  until  September  30,  1791.  It 
was  quite  the  most  dignified  and  respectable  of  the  three  legis- 
lative bodies  that  are  connected  with  the  Revolution,  and  its 
work  was  of  benefit  to  France.  Some  of  its  legislation  was 
chiefly  destructive  in  character;  for  it  could  not  build  a  new 
order  of  society  on  mediseval  foundations.  Accordingly,  it 
passed  the  famous  Declaration  of  Rights,^  thereby  establishing 
equality  for  all;  it  swept  away  the  peerage,  hereditary  dis- 
tinctions, and  all  feudal  privileges ;  and  it  changed  the  King's 
title  from  "King  of  France"  to  "King  of  the  French."  But 
the  work  of  upbuilding  also  received  due  attention.  For  a 
new  Constitution  was  gradually  framed;  the  right  of  suffrage 
was  given  to  the  people,  though  based  upon  a  property  quali- 
fication; trial  by  jury  was  established  for  criminal  cases;  the 
country  was  divided  into  eighty-three  departments,  the  old 
division  into  provinces  being  abolished;  and  to  save  the  nation 
from  bankruptcy,  the  lands  of  the  clergy  were  appropriated 
and  sold. 

When  the  King  had  sworn  to  defend  the  new  Constitution, 
the  National  Assembly  considered  that  its  labors  were  com- 
pleted, and  it  accordingly  dispersed.  Its  successor,  which  was 
called  the  Legislative  Assembly,  met  first  on  October  1,  1791. 
It  was  dominated  by  the  Mountain,  a  vehement  and  aggressive 
body  which  sat  on  the  higher  benches  of  the  Left,  and  was 
largely  composed  of  tlie  Jacobins  and  the  Cordeliers.  Con- 
trolled by  such  turbulent  spirits,  the  Assembly  forgot  that  its 
mission  was  to  revise  the  laws,  and  engaged  in  a  bitter  and 

1  The  language  of  the  decree  was :  Toutes  distinctions  honorifiques  superio- 
rite  et  puissance  re'sultantes  du  regime  feodal  sont  abolies.  Also:  La  foi- 
hommage,  et  tout  autre  service  personnel,  auquel  les  vassaux,  censitaires  et 
tenanciers  ont  ete  assujettes  insqn'a  present,  sont  abolis.  —  "Archives  Parle- 
meutaires,"  1  Serie,  Tome  2,  501. 


PART  1   THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION  AND  NAPOLEON      19 

deadly  conflict  with  royalty.  Wild  scenes  took  place  during 
its  sittings.  Austria,  Prussia,  and  Piedmont  combined  to 
restore  Louis  XVI.  to  his  full  powers  and  privileges,  and 
France  was  therefore  threatened  with  foreign  invasion.  Infu- 
riated by  this  danger  the  populace  of  Paris  made  Danton  their 
leader,  overawed  the  Assembly,  invaded  the  Tuileries,  and 
sacked  the  palace,  after  butcliering  the  Swiss  guards.  The 
King  found  protection  with  the  Assembly,  but  he  and  his  family 
were  henceforth  imprisoned  in  the  Temple.  Soon  after  this 
the  prisons  were  broken  open,  and  twelve  hundred  persons, 
including  a  hundred  priests,  were  slain.  The  beautiful 
Princess  de  Lamballe  was  among  the  victims. 

Unable  to  control  the  bloodthirsty  Parisian  rabble,  the  Leg- 
islative Assembly  was  obliged  to  bring  its  sittings  to  an  end 
and  to  order  the  election  of  a  new  National  Convention.  That 
Convention  assembled  on  September  21,  1792,  and  began  its 
unprecedented  and  infamous  career.  Its  proceedings  were  not 
uniformly  bad,  for  it  saved  France  from  invasion,  and  some  of 
its  legislative  measures  were  wise  and  progressive.  To  the 
Convention  is  due  the  admirable  metric  system  of  weights  and 
measures,  and  the  foundation  of  several  excellent  educational 
institutions.  But  its  iniquities  were  so  great  that  it  will 
always  be  remembered  by  the  evil  that  it  did  rather  than  the 
good.  For  it  sent  the  King  to  the  guillotine,  and  it  inaugu- 
rated the  Reign  of  Terror.  That  awful  period  lasted  four 
hundred  and  twenty  days,  from  May  31,  1793,  to  July  27, 
1794,  and  before  it  closed,  the  guillotine  had  counted  some  of 
the  most  distinguished  men  and  women  of  France  among  its 
victims.  The  Queen,  Madame  Roland,  Danton,  and  a  host  of 
less  notable  persons  were  sacrificed  in  the  desecrated  name  of 
Liberty.  But  Robespierre,  who  was  chiefly  responsible  for 
this  wholesale  butchery,  overreached  himself.  The  Conven- 
tion found  that  he  was  plotting  the  death  of  many  of  its  mem- 
bers; so  it  rose  against  him,  overthrew  him,  and  sent  him  to 
the  guillotine  on  July  28,  1794.  This  done,  the  people's 
thirst  for  blood  was  sated,  and  the  Convention  was  able  to 
establish  order  once  more.  Acting  with  great  vigor,  it  sup- 
pressed riots,  and,  in  June,  1795,  it  adopted  a  new  Constitu- 
tion, which  vested  the  executive  power  in  a  Directory  of  five, 
and  the  legislative   in  a  Council   of  Elders,  —  consisting  of 


20  THE   LATIN   NATIONS  book  i 

two   hundred   and   fifty  members,  —  and  a  Council  of   Five 
Hundred. 

This  system  had  merits,  but  it  did  not  please  the  Eoyalists. 
They  wished  a  government  more  monarchical  in  character,  and 
incited  an  insurrection  against  the  Convention.  Napoleon 
Bonaparte  was  chosen  to  suppress  the  uprising.  He  greeted 
the  insurgents  with  grape-shot;  they  scattered  in  confusion, 
and  order  reigned  undisturbed.  The  Convention,  having  thus 
provided  the  country  with  a  government,  brought  its  sessions 
to  an  end.  Its  career  had  lasted  three  years;  more  than  six 
years  had  passed  since  the  States-General  were  summoned  in 
1789.  In  these  six  years  the  monarchy  had  been  overthrown, 
feudal  institutions  had  been  swept  away,  and  the  people  had 
assumed  control  of  national  affairs.  These  changes  had  not, 
indeed,  taken  place  without  terrible  disturbance.  All  Europe 
had  shuddered  at  the  excesses  of  the  French  Revolution.  Its 
barbarities,  its  license,  and  its  indecencies  had  brought  lasting 
reproach  upon  the  French  nation.  Yet,  wild,  horrible,  and 
stormy  as  the  period  was,  it  was  still  a  period  of  progress. 
The  first  attempt  of  the  French  people  at  self-government  was 
costly,  but  it  had  been  made.  In  the  midst  of  bloodshed, 
horror,  and  chaos  the  foundations  of  democracy  had  been  laid. 

The  Directory  set  itself  manfully  to  the  task  of  reanimating 
the  prostrate  nation.  .  Its  measures  were  wise  and  were 
crowned  with  success.  Trade  revived;  agriculture,  the  arts, 
and  the  manufactures  began  to  flourish;  insurrection  was 
suppressed;  a  Royalist  conspiracy  was  promi^tly  crushed.  The 
financial  distress  was  temporarily  relieved  by  a  forced  loan, 
though  this  merely  postponed  the  day  of  national  bankruptcy. 
The  nation  ultimately  repudiated  its  debts  of  over  six  billion 
dollars.  But  it  was  in  the  field  that  the  Directory  was  obliged 
to  display  especial  energy.  In  1794  France  had  driven  the 
Austrians  out  of  Belgium,  subjugated  Holland,  and  established 
the  Rhine  as  her  frontier.  But  these  successes  had  united 
Russia,  Austria,  and  Great  Britain  against  her,  and  her  con- 
dition was  becoming  desperate.  Fortunately,  however,  she 
had  able  generals  to  send  against  her  enemies,  and  her  armies 
restored  her  prestige  by  a  series  of  brilliant  victories.  Hoche 
and  others  showed  uinisual  military  genius;  but  quite  the 
most  remarkable  of  these  commanders  was  Napoleon  Bonaparte. 


PART  I   THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION  AND  NAPOLEON     21 

Born  in  Corsica  in  1769/  Bonaparte  was  at  this  time  twenty- 
six  years  of  age.  He  was  sliort  of  stature,  pale,  and  slender, 
but  possessed  of  enormous  energy.  Men  of  unusual  force 
quailed  before  his  masterful  temper.  His  father,  a  quiet,  indo- 
lent man,  belonged  to  an  Italian  family  that  had  migrated  to 
Corsica  early  in  the  sixteenth  century.  His  mother  was  a 
native  Corsican.  From  her  he  probably  derived  much  of  his 
tiery  vehemence,  and  perhaps,  also,  some  of  his  bourgeois 
traits  and  instincts.  For,  thougli  beautiful,  she  was  ignorant 
and  uncultivated.  In  his  youth  Napoleon  did  not  show  re- 
markable promise.  He  was  solitary  and  unsocial  at  the  mili- 
tary school  at  Brienne,  which  he  attended  for  five  years;  and 
not  until  the  Revolution  did  his  powers  begin  to  reveal  them- 
selves. He  was  in  Paris  in  1792,  attached  himself  to  Robes- 
])ierre,  and,  after  the  tyrant's  downfall,  was  imprisoned. 
Escaping,  he  distinguished  himself  by  crushing  the  insurrec- 
tion of  OQtober  5,  1795,  as  already  mentioned. 

Appointed  by  the  Directory  to  take  the  field  against  the 
Austrians,  he  entered  Italy  in  March,  1796,  and  in  less  than 
a  year  was  master  of  the  country.  The  Austrian  armies  could 
not  stand  before  his  vigorous  onslaughts,  and  were  driven 
entirely  out  of  Italy.  In  December,  1797,  Bonaparte  returned 
to  France;  but,  though  the  people  received  him  with  enthusi- 
asm, the  Directory  was  rendered  uneasy  by  his  presence,  for  it 
viewed  his  growing  popularity  with  alarm.  Accordingly,  in 
May,  1798,  it  despatched  him  to  Egypt,  where  he  made  new 
conquests,  but  met  with  some  reverses.  His  plans  were  frus- 
trated by  Nelson,  who  destroyed  his  fleet  on  August  1,  in  the 
Battle  of  the  Nile,  and  he  found  that  he  was  sorely  needed  at 
home;  for  France  had  met  with  a  series  of  disasters  during  his 
absence.  Its  armies  had  been  defeated,  and  it  was  threatened 
with  loss  of  territory.  So  Bonaparte  returned  to  Paris  in 
October,  1799,  overthrew  the  weak  Directory,  and  established 
the  Consulate  in  its  place. 

1  The  accepted  date  of  Napoleon's  birth  is  August  15,  176!);  but  it  is  bj'  no 
means  certain  that  he  was  not  born  on  January  7  of  the  preceding  year.  At 
any  rate,  the  Corsican  records  show  that  on  this  latter  date  Iiis  mother  gave 
birth  to  a  son  named  Nabulione.  Jung  (Bonaparte  et  son  Temps,  2  vols.,  1S80) 
ari;u(!s  that  January  7,  17()S,  is  the  correct  date,  ami  tliat,  in  order  to  gain 
admission  to  the  military  school  at  Hrieuiie,  for  wliicli  he  was  really  too  old. 
Napoleon  represented  himself  as  the  second  son  instead  of  the  eldest,  and 
i;lainied  to  be  a  year  and  a  half  younger  than  he  actually  was. 


22  THE   LATIN   NATIONS  book  i 


The  newly  constituted  Government  consisted  of  three  Con- 
suls, a  Council  of  State,  a  Senate  composed  of  eighty  life 
members,  and  a  Legislative  Body  of  three  hundred.  But 
Napoleon  was  really  the  Government.  He  was  made  T'irst 
Consul,  and  he  took  all  the  power  into  his  own  hands.  Acting 
Avitli  great  vigor  and  energy,  he  reentered  Italy  and  gained  a 
brilliant  victory  over  the  Austrians  at  Marengo,  on  June  14, 
1800.  Six  months  later  Moreau  inflicted  a  crushing  defeat 
upon  them  at  Hohenlinden.  Weary  of  the  long  conflict,  Aus- 
tria signed,  in  February,  1801,  the  Treaty  of  Luneville,  which 
allowed  France  to  keep  Belgium  and  the  Rhine  frontier;  and 
in  March,  1802,  the  Peace  of  Amiens  was  ratified  between 
France  and  England. 

Thus  Napoleon  was  now  free  to  devote  himself  to  those 
internal  reforms  that  were  sorely  needed.  For  France  was, 
for  a  great  civilized  nation,  in  a  very  peculiar  condition.  She 
had  neither  laws  nor  institutions.  The  Revolution  had  swept 
the  old  order  away  without  establishing  a  new  one  in  its  place. 
Napoleon,  therefore,  had  before  him  at  once  a  great  task  and 
a  great  opportunity.  The  country  needed  the  hand  of  a  states- 
man; and  Napoleon  showed  himself  a  statesman  in  what  he 
did  for  France,  even  if  he  did  not  evince  first-rate  constructive 
genius.  He  set  himself  to  the  work  of  restoration  with  great 
energy,  and  under  his  vigorous  hand  new  institutions  sprang 
rapidly  into  life.  The  more  important  results  which  he  ac- 
complished may  be  summarized  as  follows :  — 

I.  He  restored  the  Catholic  Church  to  its  old  supremacy. 
The  wealth  which  had  been  taken  from  it  during  the  Revolu- 
tion was  not  returned;  but  it  now  received  a  subsidy  from  the 
State  of  about  $10,000,000.  As  France  was  a  Catholic  coun- 
try, this  step  was  natural  and  justifiable;  but  in  taking  it 
Napoleon  was  actuated  by  interested  motives.^  He  wished  to 
deprive  the  Bourbons  of  the  support  of  the  Church  and  to  make 
the  Pope  his  ally.  And  in  this  end  he  succeeded.  The  Church 
of  Rome  has  always  been  the  firm  friend  of  the  Bonapartes. 
Napoleon  III.  recognized  this  alliance,  and  in  his  relations 
with  the  Church,  as  in  many  other  respects,  he  adopted  his 
uncle's  policy. 

1  Napoleon's  hatred  for  the  Pope  and  the  Catholic  Church  was  bitter  and 
rancorous. — Fortnightly  Review,  370,  N.  S.,  5(i7. 


PART  I   THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION  AND  NAPOLEON      23 

II.  Napoleon  reconstructed  the  educational  system  of  the 
country,  though  with  indiiferent  success.  His  greatest  achieve- 
ment in  this  direction  was  the  establislinient  of  the  University. 
It  was  a  remarkable  institution,  and  it  still  exists.  But  in 
organizing  it  Napoleon  showed  at  once  the  crudity  of  his  mind 
and  his  ever  active  desire  for  his  own  aggrandizement.  For 
he  gave  it  a  narrow  intellectual  tone,  and  he  shaped  its  use  to 
the  needs  of  his  own  government.  In  its  courses  of  study 
mathematics  and  science  received  the  eminent  position  that 
was  due  them;  but  history,  theology,  and  political  science 
were  neglected,  and  the  ancient  languages  secured  but  little^ 
attention.  And  while  the  end  of  the  University  was  instruc- 
tion and  research,  it  was  also  expected  to  turn  out  officers 
ready  made  for  State  purposes.  Moreovei-,  the  interests  of 
secondary  education  were  almost  sacrificed  to  this  one  insti- 
tution. 

III.  The  judicial  system  was  made  over  and  rendered  far 
more  efficient.  The  Revolution  had  created  an  elective  judi- 
ciary. Napoleon  had  the  judges  appointed  to  their  positions 
by  the  Government.  And  the  processes  of  the  courts  were 
also  changed  and  improved. 

IV.  A  series  of  codes  was  prepared,  which  gave  the  nation 
a  complete  and  admirable  body  of  statutes.  The  codes  were 
four  in  number:  (a)  Code  Civil,  which  received  the  name  Code 
Napoleon;  (5)  Code  de  Commerce;  (c)  Code  Penal;  (d)  Code 
d'Instruction  Criminelle.  The  preparation  of  these  codes 
was  an  enormous  task,  and  Napoleon  could  do  no  more 
than  inaugurate  it,  and  give  his  judgment  on  disputed  points 
as  the  work  went  on.  And  his  judgment  was  not  always 
good,  as  he  sometimes  opposed  useful  reforms.^  Yet  the 
credit  of  the  work  must,  on  the  whole,  belong  to  Napoleon, 
without  whom  it  could  not  have  been  begun  or  carried 
through. 

V.  The  country  was  sadly  in  need  of  a  system  of  local  gov- 
ernment, and  this  Napoleon  gave  it.  But  with  a  view  to 
strengthening  his  own  power,  he  brought  the  communes  into 
too  close  a  relation  with  the  central  authority.  In  tliis  way, 
the  Government  was  able  to  make  itself  autocratic  and  obstruct 

1  For  Napoleon's  not  altojiether  fortunate  induence  on  the  Code  Civil,  con- 
sult Lanfrey's  "  History  of  Napoleon,"  H.  KiO  et  seq. 


24  THE   LATIN   NATIONS  book  i 

tlie  growth  of  democracy.     France  has  never  ceased  to  suffer 
from  the  centralization  established  by  Napoleon.^ 

VI.  In  order  to  put  the  finances  of  the  nation  in  a  sounder 
condition,  the  Bank  of  France  was  established.  By  this  means 
the  Government  was  brought  into  relation  with  the  monetary 
system  of  the  country,  and  a  greater  measure  of  stability  was 
given  to  financial  operations. 

VII.  The  Legion  of  Honor  was  founded  with  a  view  to  en- 
couraging exemplary  conduct.  The  old.  nobility  had  been 
swept  away  by  the  Revolution.  Napoleon  wished  to  create  a 
new  aristocracy  which  would  be  devoted  to  the  power  that  gave 
it  being.  The  Legion  of  Honor,  therefore,  was  a  means  of  fur- 
thering his  own  personal  ends;  but  in  rousing  ambition  it 
served  a  useful  purpose. 

From  this  summary  it  may  be  seen  that  France  owes  much 
to  Napoleon's  administrative  and  reforming  genius.  His 
measures  were  not  always  wise,  and  they  were  colored  by  per- 
sonal ambition;  but  they  fairly  entitle  their  author  to  be  con- 
sidered one  of  the  great  civilizing  forces  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  and  they  do  not  merit  the  destructive  criticism  with 
which  they  are  sometimes  visited.^ 

Napoleon's  conduct  of  affairs  was  indorsed  by  the  nation. 
In  August,  1802,  he  was  made  Consul  for  life  with  the  right 
of  naming  his  successor,  more  than  three  million  five  hundred 
thousand  votes  being  cast  in  his  favor.  But  his  reformatory 
career  was  soon  interrupted.  His  attitude  was  aggressive  and 
alarmed  the  great  powers.  England  quarrelled  with  him  over 
the  island  of  Malta,  and  declared  war  upon  France,  in  1803. 
Other  countries  fell  out  with  him,  as  his  conduct  was  some- 
times high-handed  and  offensive.  In  March,  1804,  he  shocked 
and  startled  the  sovereigns  of  Europe  by  ordering  the  arrest 
and  execution  of  the  Due  d'Enghien.*'    This  imfortunate  young 

1  This  excessive  centralization  was  perpetuated  rather  than  created  by- 
Napoleon,  for  it  had  characterized  the  government  of  France  for  a  long  time. 

2  Taiue  and  Lanfrey  are  two  of  Napoleon's  severest  critics,  though  the 
latter,  at  least,  is  an  impartial  one.  Taiue  is  excessively  analytical  and  hardly 
recognizes  the  part  Napoleon  played  in  the  march  of  events  ;  but  his  knowl- 
edge of  institutions  is  profound  and  his  study  of  the  period  extremely  valu- 
able. For  the  essence  of  Taine's  estimate  see  "  The  Modern  Re'gime,"  I.  132- 
137  (Holt's  edition). 

3  This  act  has  been  almost  universally  condemned  and  can  hardly  be  justi- 
fied. But  for  a  fair  presentation  of  Napoleon's  side  of  the  case  consult  Rope's 
"The  First  Napole.ui,"  Ch.  11. 


PART  1      THE   FRENCH   REVOLUTION   AND   NAPOLEON  25 


nobleman  was  connected  with  tlie  house  of  Bourbon,  As  he 
was  suspected  of  being  an  accomplice  in  a  plot  against  the  life 
of  the  First  Consul,  he  was  seized  on  the  neutral  soil  of  Baden 
and  brought  to  Paris  and  shot.  So  great  was  the  indignation 
excited  by  the  act  throughout  Europe  that  Napoleon's  friends 
deemed  it  necessary  to  strengthen  his  position.  Accordingly, 
the  Tribune  and  the  Senate  proposed  that  he  be  made  Emperor. 
The  people  ratified  the  proposal,  and  Napoleon  was  crowned 
on  December  2,   1804. 

Now  followed  the  most  triumphant  period  of  his  career. 
Great  Britain  formed  coalition  after  coalition  against  him,  but 
in  vain.  His  former  successes  were  eclipsed  by  new  and  aston- 
ishing victories.  He  crushed  the  combined  Austrian  and 
Russian  armies  at  Austerlitz  in  1805.  Prussia  was  humbled 
by  the  battles  of  Jena  and  Auerstadt  in  1806.  In  1807  he 
unwisely  conquered  Spain,  and  placed  his  brother  Joseph  on 
the  Spanish  throne.  His  prospects  were  somewhat  dubious 
in  1809;  for  in  that  year  the  Austrians  again  took  the  field 
against  him  with  powerful  and  well-commanded  armies.  But 
by  the  help  of  strategy,  daring,  and  good  fortune  he  saved 
himself,  and  gained  the  decisive  victory  of  Wagram  on  July  6. 

But  his  power  was  on  the  wane.  Wellington  was  gradually 
driving  the  French  armies  out  of  Spain.  Nelson  had  shattered 
the  sea  power  of  France  at  Trafalgar  in  1805.  Napoleon's 
forces  were  now  recruited  from  the  striplings  of  the  nation;^ 
yet  he  believed  that  he  could  maintain  himself  against  Europe 
with  an  army  of  young  men  and  boys.  Even  calamity  did  not 
dismjty  him.  In  1812  he  conducted  a  disastrous  expedition 
into  Russia,  in  which  he  lost  over  two  hundred  thousand  men.^ 
Yet  in  the  following  year  he  drove  Austria  into  war  by  fool- 
ishly refusing  the  concessions  which  Metternich  demanded. 
The  allies  brought  vast  armies  into  the  field  against  him,  and 
shattered  his  power  at  Leipsic,  on  October  18,  1813. 

In  vain  did  he  try  to  retrieve  his  fortunes.  The  allies  in- 
vaded France.  He  opposed  them  with  consummate  skill  and 
energy.     But  they  reached  Paris  and  forced  it  to  capitulate. 

1  In  181.3  Metternich  said  to  him,  "I  have  seen  your  soldiers  :  they  are 
mere  children."     "  Memoirs,"  I.  18!l  (Scribner's  edition  of  1880). 

2  A  moderate  estimate.  See  p.  4()'.»  in  II.  B.  George's  "  Napoleon's  Invasion 
of  Russia"  (181)1)). 


26  THE   LATIN   NATIONS  book  i 


Napoleon  no  longer  had  the  nation  with  him.  Kather  than 
occasion  a  civil  war,  he  abdicated,  on  April  6,  1814,  and  was 
banished  to  Elba.  Breaking  loose  from  that  island  in  March 
of  the  following  year,  he  made  his  way  to  France.  His  pres- 
ence was  enough  to  upset  the  existing  government.  The  old 
generals  and  soldiers  rallied  to  his  standard.  Louis  XVIII., 
who  had  been  placed  upon  the  French  throne,  was  obliged  to 
flee.  But  Napoleon's  downfall  was  only  a  question  of  time. 
Once  more  the  great  powers  united  against  him.  His  power 
lasted  only  a  Hundred  Days.  On  June  18,  Wellington  and 
Bliicher  defeated  him  at  Waterloo,  The  rout  was  complete. 
He  was  utterly  crushed  and  broken  by  that  one  battle ;  but  its 
importance  has  been  greatly  exaggerated  by  English  pride. 
For  had  Napoleon  driven  Wellington  from  the  field,  he  could 
not  long  have  averted  irretrievable  disaster.  He  did  not  have 
an  undivided  France  behind  him;  and  the  vast  forces  of  the 
allies  would  have  speedily  overwhelmed  his  scant  battalions. 

It  is  not  easy  to  estimate  Napoleon's  place  in  history. 
Judged  from  the  moral  point  of  view,  he  failed.  His  egotism 
was  colossal;  his  nature  was  coarse;  his  ambitions  were  selfish. 
He  was  inferior,  not  only  to  such  pure-minded  patriots  as 
Epaminondas  and  Washington,  but  even  to  such  mixed  char- 
acters as  Alexander  and  Julius  Caesar.  By  many  he  has  been 
regarded  as  a  monster  of  evil;  and  some  of  his  fairest  critics 
consider  that  his  influence  on  the  French  nation  and  character 
has  been  pernicious.  Even  his  reforms,  they  declare,  were 
only  a  natural  sequence  of  the  Revolution,  and  would  have 
come  about  without  his  agency.  * 

But  history  often  shows  that  a  selfish  man  is  an  instrument 
of  good.  Napoleon  embodied  the  levelling  influences  of  his 
time,  and  it  was  by  falling  in  with  those  tendencies  that  he 
made  himself  great.  He  was  born  into  a  restless  age.  He 
saw  thrones  tottering  and  the  people  asserting  themselves. 
Acting  out  the  spirit  of  his  age,  he  rose  from  obscurity  to 
power,  trod  ancient  monarchies  under  foot,  and  made  France 
greater  than  she  had  ever  been  under  her  kings.  True,  he 
ruled  her  like  an  autocrat  and  he  left  her  exhausted.  But  his 
civil  government  was  able  and  progressive;  and  his  very  great- 
ness was  a  menace  to  the  kings  who  followed  him.  They,, the 
representatives  of  privilege,  were  feeble  and  commonplace; 


PART  I   THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION  AND  NAPOLEON      27 

he,  the  self-made  ruler,  was  the  mightiest  sovereign  of  his 
time.^  Altogether,  his  stormy  career  seemed  a  natural  and 
fitting  conclusion  to  the  chaos  of  the  Revolution.  In  a  rude, 
imperfect  way  it  carried  forward  the  work  which  the  Revolu- 
tion had  begun;  but  after  the  Reign  of  Terror  it  was  much 
that  the  work  was  carried  on  at  all. 

1  Metternich's  penetrating  and  dispassionate  judgment  of  Napoleon  is  in- 
teresting: "Napoleon's  practical  mind  enabled  laim  to  understand  the  needs 
of  a  country  where  the  social  edifice  had  to  be  rebuilt.  ...  He  was  a  born 
conqueror,  legislator,  and  administrator,  and  he  thought  he  could  indulge  all 
these  inclinations  at  once.  His  undoubted  genius  furnished  him  with  the 
means  of  doing  so.  The  sentiment  of  the  enormous  majority  of  the  nation 
would  have  been  entirely  with  him,  if  he  had  confined  himself  to  the  duties  of 
government."  "Memoirs,"  L  86.  See  also  the  Portrait  of  Napoleon  in  the 
same  volume,  pp.  269-286. 


CHAPTER  II  . 

THE    CONGRESS    OF   VIENNA.  —  THE    BOURBON    RESTORATION.  — 

LOUIS    PHILIPPE 

Napoleon  had  caused  a  mighty  upheaval.  He  effaced  old 
boundaries  and  made  new  ones.  He  dethroned  kings  and 
princes.  He  swept  states  out  of  existence,  and  materially 
changed  the  map  of  Europe.  Accordingly,  no  single  hand 
could  undo  what  he  had  done.  Only  the  great  powers,  acting 
in  concert,  could  settle  the  disputes  that  inevitably  arose  after 
his  overthrow.  His  first  abdication  was  made  on  April  6, 
1814.  In  September  of  that  year  the  famous  Congress  of 
Vienna  assembled  to  readjust  European  affairs.  It  was  indeed 
a  notable  gathering.  It  included  the  sovereigns  of  Russia, 
Austria,  and  Prussia,  many  minor  princes,  and  diplomatic 
representatives  from  every  country  in  Europe,  excepting  Tur- 
key. Therefore  its  character  was  highly  conservative.  It 
had  not  met  in  the  interests  of  progress.  Rather  did  it  embody 
the  very  spirit  of  intolerance  and  absolutism.  Democracy  had 
no  friends  in  that  august  body.  It  was  assembled  in  the  inter- 
ests of  the  privileged  few.  It  was  sure  to  do  everything  it 
could  to  put  liberty  in  perpetual  chains. 

Very  deliberately  and  with  much  ostentation  the  Congress 
proceeded  with  its  work.  It  had  difficult  questions  to  settle, 
and  it  settled  them  very  slowly.  Its  tardy  deliberations  ^  were 
made  much  more  tardy  by  Talleyrand.  That  astute  ai)d 
unscrupulous  Frenchman  delayed  every  decision  as  long  as 
possible  in  the  interests  of  his  country.  Prostrate  and  crippled 
as  France  was,  she  could  but  gain  by  procrastination. 

So  the  proceedings  dragged  on  until  Napoleon's  return  from 

1  It  should  be  added  that  this  famous  Congress  did  not  meet  in  general  con- 
clave, and  was  not,  strictly  speaking,  a  deliberative  body.  Its  work  was  done 
through  committees. 

28 


PART  I  THE   BOURBON   RESTORATION  29 

Elba  startled  the  leisurely  diplomats  into  more  energetic  action. 
In  June,  1815,  they  finished  their  work.  They  restored  Europe 
to  her  former  condition.  All  that  i^apoleon  accomplished 
was,  as  far  as  possible,  undone.  Some  new  adjustments,  it  is 
true,  were  made.  Saxony  was  divided  between  Prussia  and 
its  own  King.  A  new  partition  of  Poland  was  agreed  upon. 
Some  small  districts  were  taken  from  the  Papal  States  and 
given  to  France  and  Austria.  Denmark  was  obliged  to  cede 
Norway  to  Sweden.  But  the  old  dynasties  dethroned  by 
Napoleon  were  restored.  Constitutions  were  disallowed. 
Democratic  principles  were  smothered.  Europe  was  given 
over  to  the  will  of  its  rulers.  The  desj)otism  of  the  Middle 
Ages  seemed  to  be  restored ;  and  Napoleon  had  apparently  put 
the  cause  of  popular  liberty  back  for  a  whole  generation,  so 
great  was  the  reaction  from  his  turbulent  career  and  from  the 
excesses  of  the  French  Kevolution.  But  the  potentates  of 
Vienna  little  dreamed  what  a  hopeless  task  they  had  under- 
taken. They  did  not  realize  that  all  Europe  was  in  ferment. 
To  them  rebellion  seemed  wanton  and  wicked  —  an  evil  tiling, 
which  must  forever  be  laid  to  rest.  But  the  people  were  learn- 
ing to  regard  it  as  a  sacred  right,  by  which  alone  they  could 
win  their  liberty.     The  Age  of  Revolution  was  at  hand. 

And  nothing  could  have  been  more  sure  to  breed  revolution 
in  France  than  the  action  of  the  allies  in  restoring  the  Bour- 
bons to  the  throne.  Upon  Napoleon's  downfall  they  made  the 
Count  of  Provence  King.  He  was  brother  of  Louis  XVI.,  and 
as  Louis  XVIII.  he  began  his  reign.  The  title  of  Louis  XVII. 
was  awarded  by  the  Royalists  to  Louis  the  Dauphin,  that 
unhappy  youth  who  died  from  ill  usage  in  the  Temple  Tower. 
His  kingdom  was  a  prison  and  suffering  his  only  crown. 

Louis  XVIII.  came  to  the  throne  under  unfavorable  circum- 
stances. He  belonged  to  the  hated  Bourbon  line;  he  was 
placed  in  power  by  the  enemies  of  France.  Naturally,  there- 
fore, he  was  viewed  with  suspicion  by  the  French  people.  But 
for  a  Bourbon  he  showed  himself  liberal  and  progressive.  He 
issued  a  charter  granting  a  limited  franchise,  and  providing 
for  the  election  of  a  Chamber  of  Deputies.  He  allowed  very 
few  of  Napoleon's  partisans  to  be  executed;  and  he  allied  him- 
self at  first  with  the  moderate  party  and  not  with  the  most 
extreme  and  uncompromising  lioyalists.     Thus  something  had 


30  THE  LATIN  NATIONS  book  i 

plainly  been  accomplished  by  the  Revolution.  The  restoration 
of  the  Bourbons  did  not  mean  the  restoration  of  absolute  mon- 
archy. A  Constitution  had  been  granted.  The  rights  of  the 
people  were,  in  some  feeble  measure,  recognized.  True,  the 
King  restored  the  peerage  and  kept  the  power  of  legislation  in 
his  own  hands.  But  even  so,  the  tyranny  and  the  manifold 
abuses  of  the  ancient  regime  no  longer  existed.  The  newly 
established  Chamber  of  Deputies  had  but  a  brief  career.  It 
sympathized  with  the  gentry,  not  with  the  people.  Its  ten- 
dencies were  reactionary.  It  favored  the  restoration  of  feudal 
privileges.  Louis  therefore  dissolved  it,  declaring  at  the 
same  time  that  he  would  rule  in  accordance  with  the  Constitu- 
tion. Still  remaining  true  to  the  moderate  Royalists,  he  made 
one  of  their  number,  the  Duke  Decazes,  Prime  Minister.  So 
for  a  time  his  conduct  was  liberal,  and  the  more  arrogant 
nobles  were  rebuked.  Not  they,  but  the  middle  classes  exer- 
cised control. 

But  in  1820  the  Duke  of  Berri,  nephew  of  the  King  and  heir 
to  the  throne,  was  assassinated.  The  Royalists  were  excited 
and  indignant.  They  worked  upon  the  King's  mind  and  per- 
suaded him  to  dismiss  Decazes.  This  done,  they  found  it  easy 
to  dictate  the  royal  policy  and  to  shape  legislation  in  favor  of 
their  own  reactionary  schemes ;  and  it  was  all  the  more  easy 
to  accomplish  them  because  foreign  events  furthered  their 
plans.  In  Spain  and  Italy  insurrections  had  broken  out 
against  the  Bourbon  princes  ruling  there ;  and  Louis  was  called 
upon  by  the  Holy  Alliance  to  crush  the  uprising  in  Spain. 
This  mandate  he  could  not  but  carry  out.  The  Holy  Alliance 
had  been  formed  at  Paris  in  1815  by  the  rulers  of  Russia,  Aus- 
tria, and  Prussia.  Ostensibly  designed  to  perpetuate  peace 
and  to  carry  Christian  principles  into  the  practices  of  govern- 
ment, it  was  really  a  conspiracy  against  the  liberty  of  Europe. 
But  Louis  was  its  beneficiary  and  was  obliged  to  be  its  tool. 
He  sent  an  army  into  Spain  and  replaced  Ferdinand  VII.  on 
his  throne.  Thus,  the  country  which  had  sent  its  own  king 
to  the  guillotine  had  become  the  champion  of  despotic  mon- 
archy. The  reactionary  course  that  had  now  been  fairly 
inaugurated  was  continued  to  the  end  of  Louis's  reign.  In- 
trigue and  corruption  were  rife.  Elections  were  manipulated 
in  the  interests  of  the  central  authority.    Ecclesiastical  bigotry 


PART  I  THE   BOURBON   RESTORATION  31 

began  to  sway  government  counsels.  France  seemed  to  be  turn- 
ing away  from  democratic  principles  and  to  be  tending  toward 
absolutism  and  privilege. 

And  this  tendency  was  increased  when  Louis  died,  in  1824, 
and  was  succeeded  by  Charles  X.  Charles  was  brother  of 
Louis  XVL  and  Louis  XV III.,  but  quite  unlike  them  in  char- 
acter and  bent  of  mind.  Louis  XVIII.  was,  like  Louis  XVL, 
kind-hearted,  gentle,  moderate  in  opinion,  and  not  at  heart 
opposed  to  all  ideas  of  progress.  Indeed,  he  may  be  consid- 
ered one  of  the  best  of  the  Bourbons,  He  possessed,  it  is 
true,  the  vices  of  his  line.  He  was  fond  of  ease,  voracious, 
%nd  self-indulgent;  and,  in  consequence,  he  grew  gouty  and 
corpulent.  But  he  loved  literature  and  art;  and  he  had  the 
tastes  and  the  address  of  a  polished  gentleman.  Charles  X., 
however,  was  conservative,  narrow,  and  intolerant.  He  loved 
the  past;  he  turned  instinctively  from  all  liberal  ideas.  He 
was  kindly,  like  his  brothers,  but  firm  in  his  adherence  to  his 
bigoted  and  reactionary  views.  As  Count  of  Artois  he  had 
exercised  a  vicious  influence,  not  only  in  the  reign  of  Louis 
XVIII. ,  but  even  before  the  Revolution.  For  he  steadily 
opposed  all  liberal  and  progressive  measures. 

Naturally,  then,  he  proved  but  a  sorry  monarch.  He  did 
not  fit  into  the  nineteenth  century.  From  the  first  he  at- 
tempted to  rule  as  if  France  were  still  an  absolute  monarchy. 
He  revived  worn-out  rites  and  ceremonies.  He  endeavored  to 
restore  primogeniture.  He  attached  excessive  penalties  to 
thefts  committed  on  churches.  His  crowning  act  of  folly, 
however,  was  his  attempt  to  fetter  free  speech.  For  he  tried 
to  establish  a  censorship  of  the  press  and  to  prevent  the  pub- 
lication of  all  iitterances  obnoxious  to  his  own  intolerant  views. 
But  happily  his  effort  was  not  successful.  Literature  could 
not  have  thrived  under  such  restriction,  A  premium  would 
have  been  placed  on  bigotry  and  adulation  of  power. 

But  though  checked  in  this  direction,  he  continued  his  tyran- 
nical policy.  In  1827  he  disbanded  the  National  Guard  for 
crying  out  against  his  ministers.  This  high-handed  act  was 
extremely  unwise  and  excited  great  indignation.  The  National 
Guard  was  composed  of  worthy  and  well-to-do  citizens.  So 
the  King,  in  suppressing  it,  was  creating  enemies  who  were 
by  no  means  to  be  despised.     Not  long  after  this  he  dissolved 


32  THE   LATIN   NATIONS  book  i 

the  Chamber  of  Deputies ;  but  the  liberal  majority  iu  the  new 
Assembly  was  so  great  that  his  Ministers  were  compelled  to 
resign.  Their  successors  introduced  liberal  measures. 
Charles,  accordingly,  dismissed  them,  and  asked  Prince 
Polignac  to  form  a  new  ministry. 

Now,  Prince  Polignac  was  one  of  the  most  narrow  and 
bigoted  of  the  reactionist  nobles.  Popular  rights  had  no  more 
determined  enemy  than  he,  and  Charles  did  the  most  unwise 
thing  possible  in  selecting  him  for  Prime  Minister.  By  doing 
so  he  really  started  a  crusade  against  the  people ;  and  in  such 
a  contest  the  people  were  in  the  end  sure  to  Avin.  They  were 
not  weak  and  exhausted  as  they  were  after  Napoleon's  over- 
throw. Ever  since  the  Bourbon  restoration  they  had  been 
exercising  their  native  thrift  and  economy,  and  had  been 
growing  prosperous.  With  prosperity  came  strength,  confi- 
dence, and  assertion  of  rights.  INIoreover,  the  press,  in  spite 
of  Charles's  attempts  to  control  it,  was  formidable.  Its  sym- 
pathies were  liberal.  It  clainored  loudly  against  Prince 
Polignac's  appointment.  So  the  King  Avas  confronted  by 
enemies  on  every  side. 

Still  he  persisted  in  his  course.  As  a  result  the  Deputies 
passed  a  vote  of  no  confidence,  in  March,  1830.  This  angered 
the  King  and  he  dissolved  the  Chamber.  But  the  electors  of 
the  nation  were  Avith  the  Deputies.  In  the  new  Chamber  the 
majority  against  Polignac  Avas  stronger  than  ever.  The  King 
had  therefore  received  a  rebuke,  and  Avith  characteristic  arro- 
gance he  determined  upon  a  trial  of  strength  with  the  people. 
On  July  26,  1830,  he  issued  five  ordinances  of  a  despotic  and 
arbitrary  character.  He  decreed :  (1)  that  the  liberty  of  the 
press  should  be  suspended;  (2)  that  the  ncAv  Chamber  of 
Deputies  should  be  dissolved;  (3)  tliat  the  franchise  should 
be  restricted  to  property  holders ;  (4)  that  a  new  Chamber  of 
Deputies  should  be  chosen  in  accordance  Avith  this  limited 
right  of  suffrage;  (5)  that  certain  of  the  most  extreme  Royal- 
ists should  be  appointed  to  the  new  Council  of  State. 

These  ordinaiices  brought  on  a  revolution.  The  citizens  of 
Paris  seized  arms  and  barricaded  the  streets.  Charles  endeav- 
ored to  suppress  them  by  the  military ;  but  the  troops  finally 
fraternized  Avith  the  insurgents,  and  his  cause  became  hope- 
less.    Polignac  fled  in  disguise.     Charles  abdicated  and  made 


PART  I  THE   BOURBON   RESTORATION  33 


his  home  in  England,  where  he  died  in  1836.  In  resigning 
his  throne,  Charles  had  declared  his  grandson,  the  Duke  of 
Bordeaux,  his  successor.  This  youth,  who  was  the  son  of  the 
Duke  of  Berri,  was  born  September  29,  1820,  seven  months 
after  his  father's  assassination.  As  he  was  the  last  Bourbon 
prince  of  the  direct  line,  his  claims  to  the  throne  were  strongly- 
championed  by  the  Legitimist  nobles.  But  France  was  thor- 
oughly tired  of  the  Bourbons.  The  young  Duke  of  Bordeaux 
was  at  once  set  aside.  The  nation  would  not  seriously  consider 
him  as  a  royal  candidate;  and  his  recognition  by  the  despotic 
Charles  X.  was  certainly  nothing  in  his  favor. 

Nor  did  it  seem  appropriate  that  the  throne  should  be  offered 
to  any  one.  Monarchy  was  in  bad  odor;  why  not  end  it? 
Such  was  the  feeling  of  many;  and  tliey  seemed  to  have  reason 
on  their  side.  Under  her  kings  France  had  suffered  such 
abuses  that  the  Revolution  of  1789,  with  its  horrible  excesses, 
was  the  natural  sequence.  She  had  given  royalty  a  second 
trial,  and  now  it  had  failed  a  second  time,  —  and  failed  igno- 
miniously.  What  could  so  fittingly  spring  out  of  its  ruins  as 
a  republic  ? 

But  the  truth  was,  democracy  had  to  grow  slowly  on  French 
soil.  The  nobles  were  uncom2:)romising  adherents  of  royalty, 
and  in  many  districts  they  had  great  influence  with  the  peas- 
antry. The  masses  were  not  well  educated,  were  unaccus- 
tomed to  the  franchise,  and  were  obedient  to  the  priests.  In 
the  cities  the  working  classes  were  one  moment  quiet,  the  next 
explosive,  violent,  and  riotous.  The  national  imagination, 
moreover,  is  excitable  and  easily  captivated.  The  French 
eagerly  welcome  a  hero;  and  not  unjustly  has  Napoleon's  in- 
fluence on  the  mind  of  the  nation  been  pronounced  unwhole- 
some. Ever  since  his  day  the  multitudes  have  looked  for  a 
great  captain,  wlio  would  restore  the  glorious  days  of  Marengo 
and  Austerlitz. 

It  is  not  strange,  then,  that  forty  years  after  the  outbreak 
of  tlie  Revolution  France  was  not  ripe  for  democratic  institu- 
tions. There  were  those  who  wished  to  see  a  republic  estab- 
lished after  the  abdication  of  Charles  X.  To  them  no  form  of 
monarchy  seemed  endurable.  But  they  had  to  bide  their  time. 
The  sober  and  thoughtful  leaders  of  the  nation  were  not  with 
them.      'I'bey  turned  ratlier  to  the  idea  of  <;onstitutional  mon- 


34  THE   LATIN   NATIONS  book  i 

archy.  Lafayette  agreed  with  them.  He  had  been  made  com- 
mander of  the  National  Guard  during  the  uprising  against 
Charles.  His  influence,  which  had  long  been  under  a  cloud, 
was  just  now  considerable.  Theoretically  he  believed  that 
the  American  Constitution  was  the  only  perfect  form  of  gov- 
ernment. But  that  France  was  not  ready  for  it  he  admitted. 
This  was  the  view  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  the  new  candidate 
for  the  throne.  Lafayette  called  upon  him,  was  pleased  with 
his  liberal  professions,  and  gave  him  his  support.  Thiers, 
Guizot,  and  other  leaders  also  favored  him.  He  was,  there- 
fore, made  Lieutenant-General  of  the  kingdom,  and  afterward 
crowned. 

The  Duke  of  Orleans  took  the  title  of  Louis  Philippe,  and 
was  known  as  the  "citizen  king."  He  was  the  son  of  Philip 
Egalite,  who  was  guillotined  in  1793.  Born  in  1773,  he  was 
old  enough  to  take  part  in  the  Revolution,  was  a  member 
of  the  Jacobin  Club,  and  fought  at  Valmy  and  Jemappes. 
After  his  father's  execution  he  wandered  for  many  years. 
Prom  1814  to  1830  he  lived  in  England  and  France.  He  was 
vain,  insincere,  and  not  over-scrupulous;  but  his  views  were 
liberal,  and  great  things  were  expected  of  his  reign.-  The 
charter,  securing  the  people's  rights,  had  been  newly  revised 
by  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  and  made  more  liberal.  This 
charter  he  swore  to  maintain.  He  also  accepted  the  crown  as 
the  gift  of  the  people,  and  adopted  the  tricolor  in  place  of  the 
white  flag  of  the  Bourbons. 

His  reign  therefore  began  auspiciously.  A  distinct  gain 
upon  the  absolutism  of  the  Bourbons  seemed  to  have  been 
made.  The  new  monarch  was  limited  by  the  Constitution. 
As  "  citizen  king "  he  was  to  rule  for  the  middle  class. 
Neither  privileged  nobles  nor  red-capped  rioters  were  to  dic- 
tate to  the  government. 

But  these  favorable  expectations  were  not  realized.  Many 
adverse  conditions  existed  to  make  a  prosperous  reign  wellnigh 
impossible.  Almost  from  the  beginning  the  new  King  encoun- 
tered opposition.  A  brief  review  of  the  course  of  events  from 
1830  to  1848  will  show  what  contributed  to  his  final  downfall. 

I.  The  Government  was  embarrassed  by  the  parties  that 
divided  France.  Four  of  them  existed:  (1)  the  Legitimists, 
who  wished  to  see  the  Bourbon  line  restored;  (2)  the  Constitu- 


PART    I 


LOUIS   PHILIPPE  35 


tionalists,  who  believed  in  a  limited  constitutional  monarchy; 
(3)  the  Bonapartists,  who  hoped  to  see  a  member  of  the  Bona- 
parte family  made  emperor;  (4)  the  Bepublicans,  who  believed 
that  the  people  should  rule.  Of  these  parties  the  Constitution- 
alists alone  gave  the  King  a  hearty  support,  and  even  they 
became  divided  and  dissentient.  The  Republicans  were  vig- 
orous and  watchful.  It  began  to  seem  as  if  nothing  could  rob 
them  of  ultimate  success. 

II.  The  military  operations  of  the  reign  were  successful, 
and  yet  not  wholly  creditable.  In  1832  an  expedition  was 
despatched  to  Mexico.  The  government  of  that  country  had 
offended  France ;  but  it  was  speedily  brought  to  terms  when 
the  French  fleet  bombarded  the  fort  of  San  Juan  of  Ulua.  In 
three  hours  the  stronghold  was  in  ruins. 

If  no  great  glory  was  gained  by  these  wars  in  miniature,  at 
least  no  loss  of  reputation  was  incurred.  But  in  the  struggle 
with  Algeria  France  made  a  sorry  showing  before  the  world. 
The  war  had  been  first  iindertaken  in  the  preceding  reign. 
The  Dey  of  Algiers  had  insulted  a  French  consul,  and,  in 
1827j  the  French  attempted  to  bring  him  to  terms.  They 
succeeded,  but  it  took  them  twenty  years  to  conquer  the 
country.  The  native  Kabyles,  under  a  brilliant  leader  named 
Abd-el-Kader,  long  defied  them.  Abd-el-Kader  did  not  know 
defeat.  When  vanquished,  he  began  the  struggle  again  with 
undiminished  courage.  The  French  resented  this  fierce  re- 
sistance. They  ruthlessly  destroyed  buildings,  and  were 
guilty  of  many  barbarities.  But  their  crowning  atrocity  was 
the  affair  of  the  caves  of  Dahra.  There  nearly  a  thousand 
human  beings  were  pent  up  and  suffocated  to  death.  So  great 
was  the  indignation  caused  by  this  inliuman  act  that  Marshal 
Soulfc,  the  head  of  the  war  department,  felt  called  upon  to  de- 
nounce it.  Even  so,  the  Government  hardly  escaped  censure; 
and  it  was  severely  criticised  for  its  dishonorable  treatment 
of  Abd-el-Kader.  That  gallant  emir  was  in  the  end  obliged 
to  surrender;  and  after  doing  so,  in  good  faith,  was  rewarded 
with  a  dungeon.  Louis  Napoleon,  Avith  nicer  sense  of  honor, 
released  him.  Altogether,  the  French  derived  small  credit 
and  renown  from  their  wars  under  Louis  Philippe. 

TIL    Formidable  insurrections  broke  out  during  the  reign, 
and  a  number  of  attempts  were  made  to  assassinate  the  King. 


36  THE   LATIN   NATIONS  book  i 


In  1831  there  was  a  serious  uprising  in  Lyons.  In  1834  still 
more  dangerous  riots  occurred  both  in  Lyons  and  in  Paris. 
The  Government  fomented  disaffection  by  suppressing  secret 
societies ;  and  before  it  quelled  the  disturbances,  much  blood 
was  shed  and  terrible  atrocities  were  perpetrated. 

A  less  troublesome  rebellion  was  occasioned  by  the  Duchess 
of  Berri,  in  1832.  She  appealed  to  the  people  of  La  Vendee 
to  support  the  claims  of  her  son.  But  the  uprising  was  easily 
suppressed,  and  her  own  scandalous  behavior  bereft  her  of  all 
her  partisans. 

Three  attempts  were  made  upon  the  King's  life  in  1835  and 
1836.     Four  more  occurred  in  1840  and  1846. 

In  1847  the  crops  were  scant  in  the  central  and  western  dis- 
tricts of  France.  Food  became  scarce  and  riots  broke  out.^ 
They  were  of  such  a  threatening  character  that  the  army  was 
strengthened.  But  this  act  did  not  lessen  the  growing  dis- 
content. 

IV.  Political  rivalry  seriously  increased  the  difficulties  of 
the  reign.  The  two  ablest  statesmen  of  the  time  were  Guizot 
and  Thiers.  Unfortunately  they  did  not  unite  in  supporting 
the  King  as  they  had  united  in  elevating  him  to  the  throne. 
The  truth  was,  each  of  these  eminent  personages  wished  to  be 
the  foremost  man  in  France,  and  both  could  not  be.  They 
grew  jealous  of  each  other,  and  their  enmity  became  open, 
bitter,  and  incurable.  Thus,  the  very  ones  who  should  have 
made  the  King  secure  contributed  to  bring  about  his  down- 
fall. 

V.  Mismanagement  of  affairs  was  a  fruitful  source  of  sedi- 
tion. The  King  tried  various  Prime  Ministers,  but  none  of 
them  proved  highly  successful,  Thiers  was  appointed  in  1836 
and  again  in  1840;  but  his  term  of  office  was  short  on  each 
occasion.  After  his  second  retirement  Guizot  came  to  the 
front.  He  was  first  the  controlling  figure  of  the  government 
under  Marshal  Soult,  and  later  Prime  Minister  himself. 
Under  his  administration  matters  were  tranquil  for  a  while; 
but,  as  time  passed,  his  policy  called  forth  much  hostile  criti- 
cism and  weakened  the  throne.      He  alienated  England  by 

1  For  an  account  of  the  economic  conditions  in  France  from  the  Restoration 
to  1848,  consult  "Histoire  du  Systeme  Protecteur  en  France,"  par  M.  Pierre 
Clement,  Chs.  YI  and  VII. 


PART    I 


LOUIS   PlllLirPE  37 


favoring  the  Spanish  Marriages.^  He  offended  the  Liberals 
by  turning  from  Lord  Palmerston,  the  Liberal  English  states- 
man, and  lending  an  ear  to  reactionists  like  Metternich. 
And  the  whole  country  was  disgusted  with  his  conduct  of 
domestic  affairs.  For  official  corruption  was  overlooked,  the 
elections  were  manipulated  by  the  Government,  fraud  and 
intrigue  characterized  all  the  business  of  the  State. 

Guizot  was  personally  honest,  and  he  defended  himself 
against  his  critics  with  splendid  eloquence  and  magnificent 
courage.  But  by  the  year  1848  his  cause  had  become  hope- 
less, and  his  downfall  involved  that  of  the  King.  Discontent 
now  existed  everywhere.  The  reign  was  a  manifest  failure. 
If  the  people  were  not  tired  of  constitutional  monarchy,  they 
were  at  least  tired  of  Louis  Philippe  as  a  constitutional  mon- 
arch. He  had  not  shown  himself  the  people's  servant.  He 
had  been  self-willed  and  arbitrary.  Moreover,  he  was  held 
responsible,  and  to  some  extent  justly,  for  the  scandals  of 
Guizot's  administration.  Consequently,  in  February,  1848, 
the  people  of  Paris  rose  in  rebellion.  They  were  met  by  force, 
and  had  force  been  used  promptly  and  unsparingly,  the  move- 
ment might  possibly  have  been  suppressed.  But  the  King 
hesitated  and  was  lost.  On  February  24  he  abdicated  in  favor 
of  his  grandson,  the  Count  of  Paris;  and,  like  Charles  X.,  he 
ended  his  days  in  England.     He  died  near  London  in  1850. 

1  The  Spanish  Marriages,  which  were  bronsht  about  in  1846,  were  the 
result  of  ail  iutrigue  between  Maria  Cliristina  of  Spain  (widow  of  Ferdinand 
VII.  wlio  died  in  1S:«)  and  Louis  IMiilippe.  It  was  at  first  arran(;ed  tliat  both 
<if  Christina's  (huisliters  should  be  married  to  jsons  of  Louis  Philippe  — Isa- 
bella, the  elder  and  the  heir  to  the  throne,  to  the  Duke  of  Aumale,  and  Lnisa, 
Iho  Infanta,  to  the  youngest  son,  the  Duke  of  Montpensier.  Owins  to  the 
viKorous  protests  of  Lord  Palmerston  the  former  part  of  this  arransement  was 
not  carried  out,  and  Isabella  Avas  married  to  her  cousin,  Don  Francisco  of 
Assisi,  Duke  of  Cadiz,  at  the  same  time  that  Luisa  was  united  to  the  Duke  of 
Montpensier.  But  Isabella's  marriage  was  still  adversely  criticised;  for  her 
husband,  the  Duke  of  Cadiz,  was  weak-minded  and  sickly,  and,  as  Isabella 
was  herself  frail,  the  union  was  said  to  be  planned  in  order  that  she  might 
die  young  and  childless,  and  Luisa,  wife  of  the  Duke  of  Montpensier,  miglit 
become  Queen  of  Spain.  In  spile  of  these  criticisms  Guizot  considered  the 
Spanish  Marriages  a  diplomatic  victory,  and  boasted  to  the  French  Chamliers 
that  they  were  the  first  great  success  that  France  had  accomplished  unaided 
since  1830. 


CHAPTER   III 

THE    SECOND    REPUBLIC. THE    SECOND    EMPIRE 

Monarchy  had  been  thoroughly  tried  in  France  and  had 
failed.  Even  when  limited  and  constitutional  it  had  not  com- 
manded respect  and  confidence.  The  Legitimists  and  the  Con- 
stitutionalists were  alike  out  of  favor.  The  Bonapartists  had  no 
strength.  So  the  time  to  establish  a  republic  seemed  to  have 
come.  Louis  Philippe's  choice  of  a  successor  was  treated  with 
no  respect.  It  would  have  been  impossible  to  make  the  young 
Count  of  Paris  King.    His  reign  would  not  have  lasted  for  a  day. 

But  neither  could  a  republic  spring  full-fledged  from  the 
ashes  of  monarchy.  The  people  were  not  ready  for  self-govern- 
ment. They  had  had  little  training  for  it  during  the  preceding 
half-century.  Indeed,  they  had  had  little  to  do  with  govern- 
ment. Since  the  restoration  of  monarchy  they  had  held  some 
constitutional  rights.  The  kings  governed  with  the  aid  of  a 
chamber  of  deputies ;  but  the  chamber  was  not  chosen  by  uni- 
versal suffrage.  Nor  did  the  French  people  in  general  have  a 
voice  in  appointing  their  rulers.  Not  they,  but  Paris,  made 
and  unmade  governments,  though  Paris  sometimes  reflected  the 
nation  at  large. 

It  was  hardly  possible,  therefore,  to  establish  a  republic  as 
it  had  been  established  in  America  in  1789.  The  United  States 
grew  out  of  public  opinion.  In  France  there  was  nothing  that 
could  fairly  be  called  public  opinion.  The  masses  were  not 
intelligent  enough  to  think  for  themselves.  Democracy  could 
be  bestowed  upon  them  and  educate  them.  They  themselves 
could  not  properly  be  called  a  democracy.  A  republican  gov- 
ernment had  to  come  as  the  work  of  political  leaders.  It  had 
to  be  hastily  and  unscientifically  erected.  It  had  no  sure  foun- 
dation in  an  enlightened  popular  intelligence.  No  wonder, 
then,  that  it  soon  fell  in  ruins. 

38 


PART  I  THE    SECOND   REPUBLIC  39 

Lamartine  was  largely  instrumental  in  bringing  the  Kepublic 
into  being.  After  the  abdication  of  Louis  Philippe,  a  provi- 
sional government  was  formed  to  secure  temporary  order,  and 
Lamartine  was  its  leading  member.  He  was  an  eloquent  man, 
and  he  quieted  the  crowds  that  were  raging  through  the  streets 
of  Paris.  But  to  bring  about  entire  tranquillity  and  to  make 
the  working  classes  contented,  an  extremely  unwise  step  was 
taken.  The  provisional  government  established  national  work- 
shops for  the  unemployed  working  men.  The  shops  were  im- 
mediately crowded,  and  many  had  to  be  turned  away.  The 
unsuccessful  applicants  had  to  be  paid  to  be  kept  out  of  mis- 
chief. Thus  the  shops  were  an  encouragement  to  idleness. 
They  were  established  early  in  1848.  In  June  the  government 
decided  that  they  must  be  closed.  The  decision  was  wise,  but 
it  caused  a  fierce  and  sanguinary  outbreak.  The  working  men 
of  Paris  rushed  to  arms.  The  troops  suppressed  the  insurrec- 
tion, but  not  without  terrible  loss  of  life.  The  slain  numbered 
more  than  a  thousand,  and  among  them  was  the  Archbishop  of 
Paris,  who  was  killed  while  speaking  to  the  rioters  in  the  inter- 
ests of  peace.  Thus  the  populace  of  Paris  showed,  as  it  has  so 
often  showed  since  1789,  that  it  revels  in  anarchy  and  riots. 

Order  being  established,  the  provisional  government  gave 
way  to  the  Republic  for  which  it  had  provided.  A  Constituent 
Assembly  had  been  elected  by  universal  suffrage.  The  next 
thing  was  to  elect  a  president.  By  the  new  Constitution  the 
choice  lay  with  the  people.  All  who  were  of  age  could  vote, 
and  they  elected  Louis  Napoleon. 

This  remarkable  adventurer  was  the  son  of  Louis  Bonaparte, 
King  of  Holland,  and  was  nephew  of  the  great  Napoleon.  He 
was  born  in  Paris  in  1808.  His  ambition  was  unbounded ;  his 
genius  was  for  intrigue;  his  character  was  shifty  and  unscru- 
pulous. Already  he  had  more  than  once  attracted  the  notice  of 
the  French  nation.  By  an  absurd  conspiracy  he  was  for  two 
brief  hours  proclaimed  emperor  at  Strasburg  in  1836.  Again 
in  1840  he  raised  the  standard  of  insurrection  at  Boulogne. 
For  the  first  offence  he  was  merely  sent  to  the  United  States. 
For  the  second  he  was  sentenced  to  life  imprisonment,  and  was 
confined  in  the  citadel  of  Ham.  Escaping  in  1846  by  assuming 
a  workman's  disguise  and  walking  out  of  the  gate  in  broad  day- 
light with  a  plank  on  his  shoulder,  he  made  his  way  to  London 


40  THE   LATIN   NATIONS  book  i 

and  there  took  up  liis  abode.  He  was  waiting  and  watching 
for  an  opportunity,  for  he  never-lost  sight  of  his  main  purpose. 
He  was  determined  to  be  the  head  of  the  French  nation.  In 
1848  his  opportunity  came.  He  went  to  Paris  when  Louis 
Pliilippe  was  dethroned,  but  was  promptly  sent  out  of  the 
country.  Returning  to  London  he  was  from  there  elected  a 
member  of  the  National  Assembly,  and  was  then  made  Presi- 
dent. His  name  gave  him  unbounded  popularity.  He  received 
5,430,000  votes  out  of  a  total  of  7,300,000. 

He  was  now  the  foremost  official  in  France,  but  he  wished 
for  still  larger  powers.  He  therefore  fell  out  with  the  Assem- 
bly and  accused  it  of  thwarting  his  plans  for  reform.  The 
Assembly,  on  the  other  hand,  suspected  him  of  wishing  to  over- 
throw the  Constitution,  and  its  suspicions  proved  correct.  On 
December  2,  1851,  he  took  the  power  absolutely  into  his  own 
hands  by  a  cokj)  d'etat.  With  the  army  at  his  back  he  pro- 
claimed the  Assembly  dissolved,  arrested  all  civil  and  military 
officers  likely  to  give  him  trouble,  and  overawed  the  populace. 
His  troops  fired  on  an  inoffensive  crowd  of  citizens  gathered 
in  the  streets,  and  this  inhuman  act  effectually  crushed  all 
resistance. 

But  Napoleon  had  no  thought  of  posing  as  a  usurper.  He 
wished  to  rest  his  power  on  the  suffrages  of  the  people.  For 
he  understood  their  temper  and  knew  that  he  could  count  on 
their  support.  His  term  of  office  was  limited  to  four  years. 
The  people  were  invited  to  make  it  ten.  They  consented  by  a 
vote  of  seven  and  a  half  million  against  six  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand.  He  now  promulgated  a  new  Constitution.  A  Senate 
and  a  Legislative  Body  were  provided  for,  but  their  powers 
were  of  the  slightest.  The  Republic  had  really  perished  in  a 
single  night.  It  had  not  been  reared  by  the  people ;  it  could 
not  stand  without  their  support. 

Napoleon  was  now  completely  master  of  the  situation.  To 
make  himself  Emperor  was  not  difficult.  In  1852  the  obsequi- 
ous Senate  voted  for  the  restoration  of  the  Empire.  The  people 
confirmed  the  decree  by  another  overwhelndng  vote  in  the 
intriguer's  favor.  Out  of  eight  million  votes  all  but  a  quarter 
of  a  million  were  in  approval  of  the  Senate's  action.  Accord- 
ingly, on  December  2,  1852,  Napoleon  III.  was  proclaimed 
"  Emperor  of  the  French  by  the  grace  of  God  and  the  will  of 


PAKT  I  THE    SECOND   EMPIRE  41 

the  people."  The  title  i^^apoleon  II.  was  given  by  the  Imperial- 
ists to  the  only  son  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  proclaimed  Emperor 
of  the  French  by  his  father  in  1814  and  again  after  the  battle 
of  Waterloo.  He  was  but  four  years  old  at  the  time  of  Napo- 
leon's second  abdication,  and  he  never  came  to  the  throne,  as 
he  died  in  Austria  in  1832. 

For  some  ten  years  Napoleon's  reign  was  a  prosperous  one. 
He  was  well  aware  that  he  must  keep  himself  strong  and  pop- 
idar,  and  he  set  himself  to  do  it.  The  French  he  knew  would 
believe  in  him  as  long  as  they  were  pleased  with  themselves. 
His  policy,  therefore,  was  to  make  France  the  most  brilliant 
nation  in  Europe.  To  this  end  he  sought  to  give  her  prosperity 
and  splendor  at  home  and  reputation  abroad.  He  married  a 
beautiful  Spanish  woman,  Eugenie  Montijo,  Countess  of  Teba, 
who  captivated  the  impressionable  French  mind.  By  adopting 
England's  free  trade  policy  he  attempted  to  make  the  people 
thriving  and  contented.  He  rebuilt  Paris  at  heavy  cost  and 
made  hej*  one  of  the  most  beautiful  cities  in  the  world.  But 
his  special  appeal  for  popularity  was  made  through  military 
conquest.  He  was  not  a  soldier.  He  knew  nothing  of  war. 
Yet  he  hoped  to  repeat  the  victories  of  his  uncle,  Napoleon  I. 
All  the  more  necessary  was  it  that  he  should  win  military  glory 
for  France,  for  before  he  became  Emperor  he  had  engaged  the 
country  in  an  undertaking  disapproved  by  liberal  Frenchmen. 
In  1849  he  had  sent  troops  to  Rome  to  suppress  the  Republican 
patriots  and  to  bring  the  States  of  the  Church  again  under 
papal  control.  By  this  act  he  secured  the  favor  of  the  Church 
of  Rome  ;  but  the  Republicans,  both  in  France  and  Italy,  looked 
on  him  with  suspicion. 

He  wished,  therefore,  to  embark  upon  some  serious  military 
enterprise.  He  had,  it  is  true,  announced  that  *' the  Empire 
meant  peace."  But  to  his  unscrupulous  mind  the  Empire 
meant  anything  that  would  contribute  to  his  own  security  in 
power.  War,  he  was  satisfied,  would  give  him  popularity ; 
accordingly  he  looked  around  for  an  antagonist.  He  selected 
Russia,  and  in  1854  he  brought  on  the  Crimean  War. 

That  he  was  solely  responsible  for  its  outbreak  can  by  no 
means  be  asserted.  The  course  of  European  diplomacy  is  tor- 
tuous, and  many  causes  work  beneath  the  surface  to  produce 
the  great  events  of  European  history.     The  Crimean  War  seems 


42  THE   LATIN  NATIONS  book  i 

to  have  been  due  to  several  causes.  Russia  coveted  Constanti- 
nople, and  Avas  menacing  Turkey.  The  English  hated  Russia 
and  upheld  the  Turk.  The  Emperor  Nicholas  was  headstrong, 
capricious,  and  vinable  to  pursue  a  settled  policy.  Napoleon 
stood  ready  to  set  the  English  against  the  Russians,  and  the 
Russians  against  the  English.  Altogether,  war  seemed  a  natu- 
ral outcome  from  the  strained  situation  of  affairs.  But  that  it 
would  ever  have  come  about  without  Napoleon's  interference 
is,  to  say  the  least,  very  doubtful.^ 

England  and  France  sent  an  army  of  sixty  thousand  men  to 
the  Crimea.  The  French  troops  were  more  numerous  and 
better  equipped.  The  English  took  a  more  conspicuous  part 
in  the  fighting.  The  Russians  proved  to  be  no  match  for  their 
antagonists.  Sebastopol  was  taken.  Russia  was  humiliated 
and  obliged  to  forfeit  control  of  the  Black  Sea.  The  Turk  was 
sustained  in  his  career  of  brutality  and  corruption.  All  this 
Napoleon  accomplished,  and  he  stood  before  Europe  as  the 
head  of  a  strong  and  brilliant  military  power.  Yet  he  was 
tired  of  the  war  before  it  was  ended.  Though  he  drew  Eng- 
land into  it,  he  was  more  ready  to  make  peace  than  she.'* 

His  next  struggle  was  with  Austria.  That  he  was  wholly 
responsible  for  this  war  is  certain.  He  deliberately  picked  a 
quarrel  with  Austria  and  attacked  her  in  Italy.  All  of  North 
Italy  except  Piedmont  was  under  Austrian  control.  To  regain 
the  favor  of  the  Italians,  Napoleon  undertook  to  obtain  these 
northern  provinces  for  King  Victor  Emmanuel.  Through  good 
fortune  and  the  gallantry  of  his  troops  he  won  the  important 
battles  of  Magenta  and  Solferino.  But  to  the  intense  indigna- 
tion of  the  Italians,  he  would  not  follow  up  his  success.  He 
secured  Lombardy  for  them.  Venice  still  remained  in  Aus- 
tria's grasp. 

His  position  was  now  a  strong  one.  France  was  great,  and 
she  owed  her  greatness  to  Napoleon.  But  soon  his  fortunes 
waned.  In  18G2  he  engaged  in  a  foolish  war  with  Mexico  and 
withdrew  from  it  dishonored.  When  Prussia  warred  Avith 
Denmark,  in  1864,  Napoleon  suffered  loss  of  prestige  by  the 

1  To  understand  the  causes  that  brought  on  the  war  read  S.  Lane  Poole's 
"  Life  of  Stratford-Canning,"  II.  Chs.  XXIV-XXVII. 

2  France  indeed  acted  in  bad  faith  and  began  to  make  terms,  when  the  Eng- 
lish would  have  continued  the  war  and  wrested  larger  concessions  from 
Russia.    "  Life  of  Stratford-Canning,"  II.  436. 


PART  I  THE   SECOND   EMPIRE  43 


course  of  action  he  pursued.  Nor  was  he  any  more  successful 
in  the  war  between  Austria  and  Prussia,  in  1866.  Once  more 
he  attempted  the  part  of  judge  and  arbiter,  only  to  be  set 
aside. 

These  diplomatic  failures  discredited  him  with  the  country. 
France  had  been  growing  strong,  wealthy,  and  prosperous. 
As  her  own  power  increased,  she  suspected  that  of  the  Em- 
peror. He  had  dazzled  and  blinded  the  people,  but  they  were 
beginning  to  see  through  him.  He  was  not  a  great  soldier  nor 
a  great  ruler.  Wlien  the  year  1870  came  round,  it  found  him 
suffering  from  disease,  despondent,  and  uneasy.  Military 
success  would,  he  believed,  restore  his  popularity;  yet  he 
shrank  from  engaging  in  war.  But  a  strong  war  party  urged 
him  on.  It  was  jealous  of  Prussia  and  confident  that  France 
could  crush  her.  So  a  pretext  for  a  quarrel  was  easily  found. 
Spain  had  invited  Prince  Leopold  of  Sigmaringen  to  be  its 
king;  but  the  Prince  was  a  Hohenzollern  and  a  relative  of 
King  William  of  Prussia.  His  candidacy  was  therefore  treated 
as  a  menace  to  France,  and  King  William  was  requested  to  force 
the  Prince  to  reject  the  Spanish  overtures.  By  declining  him- 
self, the  Prince  relieved  the  King  of  Prussia  from  an  embar- 
rassing position.  The  candidacy  was  ended,  but  France  was 
not  satisfied.  She  demanded  a  promise  from  William  that  it 
should  never  be  renewed.  This  the  King  could  not  give  with 
self-respect.  Napoleon  had  asked  too  much,  and,  somewhat 
to  his  own  dismay,  he  found  that  he  had  launched  France  into 
a  war.  But  the  Due  de  Gramont,  War  Minister  and  head  of 
the  war  party,  was  elated.^  He  had  no  idea  of  Prussia's 
strength  nor  of  France's  weakness.  For  both  he  and  Napoleon 
had  been  grossly  deceived  as  to  the  efficiency  of  the  French 
armies.  For  four  years  France  had  been  preparing  for  war, 
but  without  thoroughness  or  system.  She  had,  indeed,  in  the 
Chassepot  an  excellent  rifle,  far  superior  to  the  Prussian 
needle-gun;  and  much  was  expected  from  the  mitrailleuse, 
with  its  rapid  fire.     But  the  vast  stores  of  ammunition  and 

1  The  Empress  Euge'nie  shared  the  Due  de  Gramont 's  exultation,  and  to  her 
quite  as  much  as  to  any  one  the  origin  of  tlie  war  was  to  he  traced.  For  at  the 
final  meeting  of  the  Emperor  and  liis  advisers,  when  war  was  decided  upon,  it 
was  the  Empress  who  insisted  that  France  had  gone  too  far  to  recede,  and  that 
war  alone  could  save  her  honor.  "  Memoirs  of  an  Ex-Minister,"  hy  tlie  Right 
Honorahle  the  Earl  of  Malmesbury,  p.  ()()5. 


44  Tin-:   LATIN   NATIONS  book  i 

supplies  that  had  been  accumulated  were  not  easily  accessible. 
ISTo  arrangements  for  rapid  transit  had  been  made.  The 
French  forces  were  greatly  outnumbered  by  the  German,  and 
France  had  no  general  of  first-rate  genius  like  Von  Moltke. 

The  struggle,  therefore,  was  not  protracted,  nor  was  its  issue 
long  in  doubt.  Napoleon  attempted  an  offensive  camj^aign 
when  he  was  poorly  prepared  to  act  on  the  defensive.  He 
crossed  the  frontier  and  gained  a  trifling  success  at  the  heights 
of  Saarbrucken  on  August  2.  Then  began  a  series  of  disasters. 
The  Prussians  drove  the  French  back  across  the  frontier.  On 
August  6  they  defeated  Marshal  MacMahon  in  the  bloody 
battle  of  Worth.  Marshal  Bazaine  was  routed  at  Gravelotte 
on  August  18,  and  was  then  besieged  iii  Metz,  And  on  Sep- 
tember 2,  but  one  month  after  the  initial  action  at  Saarbrucken, 
Napoleon,  with  ninety  thousand  men,  was  forced  to  surrender 
at  Sedan. 

The  news  of  this  disaster  caused  consternation  at  Paris. 
The  "  Government  of  National  Defence  "  was  at  once  estab- 
lished. Napoleon  was  declared  dethroned.  Sick,  weary,  and 
humiliated,  he  repaired  to  England,  where  he  lived  quietly  for 
the  brief  remainder  of  his  life.  He  died  at  Chiselhurst,  near 
London,  in  January,  1873. 

Thus  ended  the  Second  Empire.  Like  the  First  Empire,  it 
had  thrived  on  military  glory  and  had  collapsed  under  military 
disaster.  But,  unlike  the  First  Empire,  it  had  mediocrity 
instead  of  genius  at  its  head.  Napoleon  III.  was  a  student 
rather  than  a  statesman.  Never  feeling  secure  upon  the 
throne,  he  maintained  a  despicable  system  of  espionage,  and 
blinded  the  people  with  military  success  instead  of  educating 
them  in  political  principles.  Not,  indeed,  that  he  was  witli- 
out  merits  as  a  ruler.  He  strengthened  the  French  navy; 
extended  railroads  and  telegraphs;  improved  the  processes  of 
law;  abolished  preventive  imprisonment  and  arrest  for  debt; 
shortened  military  service;  and  encouraged  free  trade  and 
commercial  enterprise.^  His  reign,  therefore,  even  though  it 
more  than  doubled  the  national  debt,  was  marked  by  material 
prosperity  and  by  some  wise  measures  of  reform.     But  his 

^  That  Napoleon  was  really  interested  in  carrying  out  reforms  is  shown  in 
Malmeshury's  '•Memoirs,"  p.  562,  where  a  valuable  picture  of  the  Emperor's 
strength  and  weaknesses  is  given. 


PART  I  THE   SECOND   EMPIRE  45 

character  was  so  unprincipled,  his  rise  to  power  so  shameless, 
and  his  political  system  so  vicious,  that  France  has  little 
reason  to  honor  his  memory.^ 

1  De  la  Gorce,  in  the  preface  to  his  "  Histoire  du  Second  Empire,"  describes 
Napoleon's  reign  very  aptly  as  "a  la  fois  brillaut  et  ne'i'aste,  superficiel  et 
tragique." 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE    THIRD    REPUBLIC 

The  Prussians  were  quick  to  follow  up  the  signal  victory  of 
Sedan.  They  passed  on  to  Paris,  leaving  Bazaine  securely 
invested  at  Metz.  Their  progress  was  unresisted,  for  the 
French  no  longer  had  any  armies  to  bring  against  them. 
Nearly  one  hundred  thousand  men  had  been  captured  at  Sedan. 
Another  hundred  thousand  were  shut  up  in  Metz.  But  the 
Government  of  the  National  Defence  was  full  of  energy. 
Thiers,  Jules  Favre,  Jules  Simon,  and  Gambetta  were  its 
leading  members;  and  they  were  among  the  ablest  men  in 
France.  They  used  every  effort  to  put  new  armies  in  the  field, 
Gambetta  being  particularly  active  in  this  direction.  But 
their  attempts  were  unavailing.  Bazaine  surrendered  Metz 
and  his  entire  army  after  a  short  siege.  The  French  recruits 
were  no  match  for  Prussia's  disciplined  battalions.  So  Paris, 
in  spite  of  a  brave  resistance,  could  not  be  saved.  The  siege 
of  the  city  began  on  September  19,  1870;  on  January  28, 
1871,  an  armistice  was  agreed  upon  and  resistance  ceased. 
France,  which  had  entered  into  the  war  with  so  much  elation, 
was  utterly  humiliated.  Her  capital  was  at  the  mercy  of 
foreign  soldiers. 

But  peace,  to  be  lasting,  must  be  securely  ratified.  On  Feb- 
ruary 8  elections  were  held  to  choose  a  National  Assembly. 
The  deputies  met  at  Bordeaux  and  established  a  republican 
government  to  sit  at  Versailles,  with  M.  Grevy  as  President, 
and  Thiers  as  chief  of  the  executive  department.  A  few  were 
in  favor  of  continuing  the  war,  but  the  vast  majority  followed 
the  advice  of  Thiers,  and  accepted  the  terras  which  Germany 
offered.  For,  in  December,  King  William  of  Prussia  had 
been  proclaimed  German  Emperor  at  Versailles.  Thus  the 
war  which  had  prostrated  France  had  created  a  new  empire; 

46 


PART  I  THE   THIRD    REPUBLIC  47 

and  the  vanquished  nation  had  now  to  deal  with  the  great 
power  which  had  sprung  out  of  its  own  weakness.  Not  Prus- 
sia, but  Germany,  dictated  terms  to  France. 

And  those  terms  were  hard  and  humiliating.  France  was  to 
cede  Alsace  and  Lorraine  to  Germany  and  pay  an  indemnity 
of  a  billion  dollars.  Thiers  had  wrested  Belfort  from  the  iron 
grasp  of  Bismarck,  but  that  was  all  he  could  do.  But  resist- 
ance was  absolutely  useless.  Tlie  Assembly  agreed  to  these 
terms.  On  May  10  the  Treaty  of  Frankfort,  which  embodied 
them,  was  signed,  and  the  war  was  over.  The  Germans  with- 
drew from  France,  after  leaving  a  sufficient  force  to  insure  the 
payment  of  the  indemnity. 

Thus  the  newly  established  Government  was  free  to  attend 
to  domestic  affairs;  and  they  sorely  needed  attention.  Paris 
was  undergoing  a  second  siege.  Its  inflammable  workingmen 
had  shown  the  same  love  of  riot  and  destruction  they  had  dis- 
played in  the  Revolution  of  1789  and  in  many  succeeding 
outbreaks.  In  March,  long  before  peace  was  signed,  the  Com- 
mune had  rebelled  against  the  Versailles  Government.  So 
supine  were  the  authorities  and  so  active  were  the  insurgents 
that  Paris  was  soon  in  the  full  possession  of  a  desperate  horde 
of  incendiaries.  Marshal  MacMahon  was  instructed  to  recap- 
ture it;  and  this  he  found  no  easy  task.  The  siege  began  on 
April  2,  and  was  not  ended  till  May  21.  The  Government 
troops  and  the  insurgents  fought  hand  to  hand  in  the  streets. 
Inch  by  inch  the  city  had  to  be  wrested  from  the  hands  of  the 
Commune.  And  finally,  as  their  cause  became  desperate,  the 
rioters  gave  free  play  to  their  mad  passions  and  acted  like 
destroying  demons.  They  fired  buildings  with  petroleum  and 
shot  down  inoffensive  prisoners.  Among  the  victims  of  this 
wanton  butchery  were  the  venerable  Archbishop  of  Paris  and 
a  number  of  priests.  But  at  last  the  scarred  and  disfigured 
city  was  restored  to  the  keeping  of  the  nation. 

These  sanguinary  occurrences  were  unfortunate.  They  did 
not  help  the  Republic,  and  its  strength  was  none  too  great. 
Its  character  was  temporary  and  provisional;  for  it  had  been 
created  to  meet  a  national  emergency.  The  nation  had  yet  to 
decide  what  permanent  form  of  government  it  would  build  on 
the  ruins  of  the  Second  Empire;  and  that  decision  couhl  not 
be  reached  without  the  contention  of  parties.     For  the  Repub- 


48  THE   LATIN   NATIONS  book  i 

licans  did  not  command  a  majority  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies. 
The  Monarchists  had  been  returned  in  great  numbers;  for 
when  the  elections  were  held  the  people  looked  less  to  remote 
political  contingencies  than  to  the  immediate  settlement  of  the 
war.  Hence,  many  Monarchists  and  Imperialists  were  chosen, 
partly  because  they  stood  for  peace,  and  partly  because  in 
large  portions  of  France  they  had  great  influence  with  the 
peasantry.  In  the  Assembly,  therefore,  the  enemies  of  the 
Republic  outnumbered  its  friends.  But  the  Republicans  were 
strong  and  enthusiastic,  and  they  had  the  logic  of  events  on 
their  side.  For  neither  monarchy  nor  empire  had  been  able 
to  stand  since  1789.  Moreover,  they  had  the  powerful  support 
of  Thiers,  whose  heroic  exertions  in  establishing  peace  had 
given  him  almost  unbounded  influence.  He  was  hardly  a 
Republican,  indeed,  but  rather  a  Constitutionalist.  Like  a 
number  of  others  in  the  Assembly,  he  was  not  averse  to  any 
form  of  government  that  was  based  upon  a  liberal  Constitution. 
Indeed,  the  Monarchists  counted  him  among  their  following, 
and  eventually  charged  him  with  deserting  their  cause  through 
presidential  ambition.  That  the  charge  was  absolutely  with- 
out foundation  it  is  difficult  to  say;  for  Thiers  was  certainly 
ambitious  and  fond  of  power.  But  there  is  ample  evidence 
that  he  honestly  considered  the  Republic  the  only  suitable 
form  of  government  for  France  at  this  particular  time.  He 
realized  that  it  was  demanded  by  the  sentiment  of  the  nation, 
and  that  a  monarchy,  even  if  established,  would  be  unstable.^ 

1  The  charge  of  disloyalty  to  the  monarchieal  party  is  brought  by  Count 
Falloux  in  his  "  Memoirs,"  wliich  fairly  reflect  the  views  of  the  better  portion  of 
the  Royalists.  But  tlie  charge  is  not  well  sustained  and  is  directly  contra- 
dicted by  the  opinions  which  Thiers  more  than  once  expressed  earnestly  and 
emphatically  before  the  Chamber  of  Deputies.  He  does  not,  indeed,  declare 
himself  a  convert  to  Republican  principles,  and  in  one  of  his  speeches  ("  Dis- 
cours  Parlementaires  de  M.  Thiers,"  YII.  101)  he  pictures  the  dangers  of 
democracy  in  a  striking  passage,  beginning,  "  Les  gouvernements  libres  out 
aussi  leurs  miseres."  But  iu  his  message  of  November  13,  1872,  he  says  that 
the  Republic  exists  and  that  to  try  for  anything  else  would  be  a  new  revolu- 
tion, "et  la  plus  redoutable  de  toutes  "  ("  Discours,"  XV.  27).  And  in  his 
speech  on  May  24,  1873,  in  which  he  defends  the  course  that  had  been  followed 
during  the  two  preceding  years,  he  states  that  the  reason  why  he,  an  old  par- 
tisan of  the  Monarchy,  had  supported  tlie  Republic,  was  that  the  Monarchy 
was  absolutely  impf)ssible  ("Discours,"  XV.  2()r)).  A  little  below  (XV.  207) 
he  gives  the  reason  why  it  is  impossil)le  in  the  quaint  phrase,  "  II  n'y  a  que 
un  troue,  et  I'ou  ne  peut  I'occuper  a  trois." 


PART  I  THE   THIRD   REPUBLIC  49 

Accordingly,  as  head  of  the  Republic,  Thiers  did  all  he 
could  to  strengthen  it.  He  had  really  been  its  chief  executive 
ever  since  it  was  established ;  and  on  August  30,  1871,  he  was 
made  its  formal  President.  Though  now  seventy-four  years 
old,  he  had  the  energy  and  fire  of  youth ;  and  he  discharged 
the  tasks  that  confronted  him  with  astonishing  vigor.  He 
reorganized  the  army,  reformed  the  civil  service,  and  paid  off 
the  vast  war  indemnity  with  unexpected  rapidity.  And  tins 
last  achievement  won  him  the  especial  gratitude  of  the  nation; 
for,  by  the  terms  of  the  Treaty  of  Frankfort,  a  German  army 
was  to  be  quartered  on  French  soil,  at  the  expense  of  the 
French  people,  until  the  debt  to  Germany  was  paid  in  full. 

But,  in  spite  of  his  vigorous  handling  of  affairs,  Thiers  en- 
countered an  ever  increasing  opposition  in  the  Assembly.  The 
Monarchists  were  offended  with  him  because  he  would  not  pro- 
mote their  reactionary  schemes,  and  many  disliked  his  policy 
of  protection.  For  he  had  undone  all  that  Napoleon  III.  had 
accomplished  in  the  direction  of  free  trade.  Several  times  he 
resigned,  only  to  find  that  his  resignation  Avas  not  accepted, 
even  his  enemies  admitting  that  his  strong  hand  was  still 
needed  at  the  nation's  helm.  But,  finally,  on  May  24,  1873, 
the  opposition  succeeded  in  passing  a  resolution  of  censure 
against  him  by  a  vote  of  360  to  344.  His  resignation  was  now 
accepted,  and  tlie  Monarchists  had  their  opportunity.  No 
doubt  the  nation  was  Republican  at  heart;  but,  recovering  as 
it  was  from  an  exhausting  war,  it  was  hardly  ready  to  quarrel 
for  Republican  principles.  Therefore,  as  the  Monarchists  had 
a  majority  in  the  Assembly,  they  only  needed  to  act  together 
to  make  their  cause  successful.  But  it  was  exactly  this  co- 
operation that  they  found  difficult.  There  were  three  distinct 
factions  among  the  enemies  of  the  Republic,  the  Legitimists, 
the  Orleanists,  and  the  Imperialists.  These  factions  now 
endeavored  to  fuse,  and  to  overturn  the  Republic.  But  they 
could  not  unite  with  any  heart,  for  they  did  not  share  the 
same  central  convictions.  Each  of  the  three  wished  to  elevate 
its  own  candidate  to  the  throne,  and  each  was  able  to  give  but 
a  grudging  allegiance  to  the  head  of  one  of  the  other  factions. 
The  Imperialists,  however,  were  weak  in  numbers  in  the  As- 
sembly; so  tliey  acted  with  the  Royalists  out  of  sheer  hostility 
to  the  Republic.     The  Orleanists  gave  Avay  to  the  Legitimists, 


50  THE   LATIN  NATIONS  book  i 

as  the  latter  seemed  best  to  represent  the  monarchical  tra- 
dition. Accordingly,  a  "fusion"  was  brought  about,  though 
an  imperfect  one.  It  was  strong  to  pull  down  rather  than  to 
build  up. 

But,  imperfect  as  the  fusion  was,  it  proceeded  with  its  plan 
of  overturning  the  Republic.  Immediately  after  Thiers's 
resignation  it  elected  Marshal  MacMahon  to  the  presidency, 
believing  that  he  would  help  on  its  reactionary  designs.  The 
next  thing  in  order  was  to  bring  forward  the  Count  of  Cham- 
bo  rd,^  the  head  of  the  Legitimists,  as  the  one  man  who  could 
save  France  from  disorder.  Accordingly,  on  August  5,  1873, 
the  Count  of  Paris,  grandson  of  Louis  Philippe  and  head  of 
the  Orleanists,  visited  him  in  his  castle  at  Frohsdorf,  in  Aus- 
tria, and  tendered  him  his  allegiance.  But  it  presently  seemed 
as  if  the  Couut  of  Chambord  should  rather  have  recognized  the 
leadership  of  the  Count  of  Paris.  For  the  latter  was  a  liberal, 
scholarly,  and  progressive  man;  while  the  Count  of  Chambord, 
though  not  without  scholarly  tastes,  was  as  narrow  and  bigoted 
as  any  Bourbon  had  ever  been  before  him.  With  the  situation 
almost  wholly  within  his  control,  he  ruined  his  chances  of 
reigning  by  his  immovable  obstinacy.  He  had  already  dis- 
mayed his  supporters  by  announcing  that  if  he  accepted  the 
throne  the  tricolor  must  give  place  to  the  white  flag  of  the 
Bourbons  —  a  proposition  so  offensive  to  the  French  nation 
that  the  hope  of  the  Monarchists  lay  in  persuading  their  leader 
to  modify  his  views.  But  this  he  refused  to  do.  In  a  letter 
dated  October  27,  he  said,  "I  retract  nothing,  and  I  curtail 
none  of  my  former  statements."  So  the  Royalist  cause  col- 
lapsed. It  was  impossible  to  elevate  the  intolerant  Count  of 
Chambord  to  the  throne.  It  was  equally  impossible  to  elevate 
the  Count  of  Paris,  since  he  had  recognized  the  superior 
claims  of  the  Bourbon  line.  And  the  death  of  Xapoleon  III., 
on  January  9,  1873,  had  excited  so  little  comment  that  the 
Bonapartists  recognized  the  futility  of  pressing  their  own 
cause  at  this  juncture. 

Accordingly,  the  Republic  lived  on,  though  as  yet  it  was 
hardly  more  than  a  Republic  in  name.  It  had  but  one  Legis- 
lative Chamber,  and  it  did  not  rest  upon  a  constitutional  basis, 

1  Grandson  of  Charles  X.,  and  known  also  as  the  Duke  of  Bordeaux.  See 
p.  33. 


TART  I  THE   THIRD   REPUBLIC  51 

It  therefore  needed  wise  legislation  to  give  it  stability.  And 
it  needed,  above  all  things,  an  opportunity  of  showing  itself 
equal  to  a  wise  and  vigorous  conduct  of  affairs.  Only  by  exist- 
ing for  a  number  of  years  could  it  confound  the  arguments  of 
its  enemies.  The  Monarchists  and  Imperialists  claimed  that 
it  should  be  set  aside  because  it  was  too  weak  to  stand  and  to 
suppress  disorder.  But  if  it  should  succeed  in  standing  year 
after  year,  it  would  vindicate  its  right  to  the  support  of  the 
whole  French  nation. 

It  was  highly  important,  then,  what  was  to  be  the  attitude 
of  Thiers's  successor  toward  the  existing  Government.  Mac- 
Mahon  had  been  chosen  by  the  Royalists  to  help  them  in 
destroying  the  Republic.  Fortunately,  however,  he  disap- 
pointed their  expectations.  Resolute,  honest,  incapable  of 
betraying  his  trust,  he  at  once  declared  himself  on  the  side  of 
established  authority.  In  a  message  to  the  Assembly,  he  said, 
unequivocally,  "  I  shall  be  a  vigorous  and  resolute  conserva- 
tive. ...  I  shall  impress  unity,  stability,  and  the  spirit 
of  order  uix)n  the  administration."  In  accordance  with  this 
declaration,  he  had  the  Vendome  column,  pulled  down  by  tlie 
Commune,  restored;  caused  diplomatic  representatives  of 
France  to  be  sent  to  the  courts  of  Gerinany,  Russia,  and  Aus- 
tria; secured  the  last  payment  of  the  indemnity,  on  Septem- 
ber 5;  and  set  about  strengthening  and  improving  the  army. 

These  measures  he  followed  up  by  demanding  of  the  Assem- 
bly that  it  give  the  existing  Government  the  needed  stability 
and  authority.  For  he  found  difficulty  in  making  his  admin- 
istration thoroughly  respected.  The  press  criticised  it  unspar- 
ingly; the  municipalities  were  inclined  to  resist  the  central 
authority.  MacMahon's  term  of  office  was  fixed  therefore  at 
seven  years,  a  proposition  to  make  it  ten  years  meeting  with 
opposition.  On  November  19  the  Assembly  voted  to  establish 
a  commission  of  thirty  to  formulate  a  Constitution.  Strength- 
ened by  this  decree,  the  President  stated  publicly,  in  Febru- 
ary, 1874,  that  "he  should  make  law  and  order  respected 
throughout  the  seven  years  of  his  office."  All  propositions  to 
reestablish  the  monarchy  he  resolutely  frowned  upon,  thus 
making  it  more  than  ever  certain  that  the  Count  of  Chambord 
would  never  receive  the  coveted  title  of  Henry  V.  The  Royal- 
ists showed  their  disappointment  by  opposing  the  Govern- 


52  THE   LATIN  NATIONS  book  i 


ment's  measures.  But,  in  spite  of  their  hostility,  the  work  of 
strengthening  the  Republic  went  on.  MacMahon  recommended 
the  creation  of  a  Senate,  that  there  might  be  two  Legislative 
Chambers;  and  this  proposition,  after  some  fierce  opposition, 
was  finally  adopted.  It  was  voted,  on  February  24,  to  create 
a  Senate  of  300  members,  225  of  them  to  be  elected  by  the 
departments  and  75  by  the  Assembly.  And  on  the  following 
day,  the  Republic  was  formally  established  by  a  vote  of  425  to 
254,  and  became  the  legal  Government  of  France. 

This  vote  was  secured  by  a  union  of  the  Republicans  with 
the  more  liberal  Monarchists,  and  was  thus  an  additional  blow 
to  Royalist  hopes.  The  Republic  was  now,  seemingly,  secure. 
It  had  powerful  champions  in  Thiers  and  Gambetta.  It  gained 
constantly  in  the  by-elections,  which  usually  resulted  in 
sending  the  Republican  candidate  to  the  Assembly.  And, 
finally,  when  the  Assembly  was  dissolved  and  a  new  one  was 
chosen,  in  February,  1876,  the  Republican  members  clearly 
outnumbered  the  Legitimists,  the  Orleanists,  and  the  Impe- 
rialists combined.  Even  in  the  Senate  the  reactionists  had 
but  a  very  small  majority.  For  the  Assembly  had,  in  the 
previous  December,  chosen  fifty-two  Republicans  out  of  the 
seventy-five  senators  it  had  to  elect;  and  many  of  the  senators 
chosen  by  the  Departments  were  moderate  Republicans  also. 

And  fortunate  it  was  that  the  Republic  was  gaining  strength; 
for  it  had  now  to  engage  in  a  battle  royal  with  the  President 
himself.  MacMahon  had  the  soldier's  respect  for  established 
authority;  and  in  assuming  office  he  had  at  once  pronounced 
himself  the  champion  of  order.  The  Republic  had  been  estab- 
lished by  the  nation's  representatives.  Therefore,  to  his 
straightforward  mind,  it  was  entitled  to  the  support  of  every 
loyal  Frenchman.  But  if  he  had  the  soldier's  regard  for 
authority,  he  had  the  general's  habit  of  command.  As  head 
of  the  nation,  he  claimed  the  right  of  dictating  its  policy.  The 
will  of  the  people,  as  expressed  by  the  Republican  majority  in 
the  Assembly,  he  was  slow  to  recognize.  He  therefore  insisted 
from  the  first  in  appointing  reactionist  Ministers,  who  did  not 
fairly  represent  the  nation.  For  his  views  were  not  liberal, 
and  his  personal  affiliations  were  rather  with  the  Royalists  and 
Imperialists,  even  thougli  he  would  not  support  the  monarchi- 
cal cause.    In  choosing  his  Ministers  he  was  always  inclined  to 


PART  I  THE  THIRD    REPUBLIC  53 

ignore  the  Republicans  and  to  select  men  of  a  very  conservative 
type.  Moreover,  he  sometimes  tried  to  control  the  national  elec- 
tions, in  defiance  of  the  spirit  of  democracy.    Hence,  his  dictato- 
rial ways  brought  him  into  inevitable  conilict  with  the  nation. 
His  hrst  Prime  Minister  was  the  Due  de  Broglie,  a  Mon- 
archist, though  a  very  liberal  one.     After  him  came  De  Cissey, 
and  later  M.  Buffet,  both  of  whom  were  stanch  Conservatives. 
In  February,  1876,  Buffet  had  resigned,  being  confronted  by  a 
hostile  majority  in  the  Assembly,  and  had  been  succeeded  by 
M.  Dufaure.     Dufaure  was  a  Liberal,  and  so  was  Jules  Simon, 
who   replaced  him  in   December,     But  neither  of  these  men 
was  pleasing  to  MacMahon,  for  their  views  were  too  broad  and 
progressive  for  his  narrow  mind.    So,  in  May,  1S77,  he  caused 
Jules  Simon  to  resign  by  sending  him  a  censorious  letter,  and 
reappointed  his  favorite,  the  Due  de  Broglie.     This  arbitrary 
conduct   made    him    unpopular;    and,    finding   himself   losing 
ground,  he  dissolved  the  Assembly,  in  1877.     But  he  soon  saw 
that  the  task  of  controlling  the  suffrages  of  the  French  nation 
was  beyond  his  powers.     The  people  seemed  to  be  growing 
in  their  appreciation  of  Republican  principles.     Gambetta's 
speeches  filled  them  with  enthusiasm;  and  the  death  of  Thiers, 
on  September  3,  increased  their  devotion  to  the  cause  to  which 
he  had  given  his  closing  years.     It  was  all  in  vain,  therefore, 
that  MacMahon  opposed  the  Republican  movement.     He  ap- 
pealed to  the  army  to  save  France;  he  issued  a  manifesto 
declaring  that  he  could  not  become  the  "  tool  of  radicalism  " ; 
and  he  interfered  with  the  freedom  of  the  ballot.     But  when 
the  elections  were  held,  on  October  14,  the  Government  re- 
ceived a  severe  rebuke.     There  were  elected  325  Republicans 
against  112  Bonapartists  and  90  Monarchists.     MacMahon  was 
obliged  to  bow  to  the  will  of  the  people.     Reluctantly  he  let 
his  reactionary  ministry  go  and  formed  a  new  one  that  em- 
bodied  the   liberal  views   of   the   legislative    majority.      On 
December  13,  M.  Dufaure  was  again  called  upon  to  form  a 
Cabinet;  ami  on  the  following  day  MacMahon  issued  a  message 
to  the  Chambers,  in  which  he  expressed  his  entire  acceptance 
of  the  results  of  the  election.     "The  interest  of  the  country," 
he  declares,  "  demands  that  the  crisis  we  are  passing  through 
should  be  ended.     It  demands,   with  no  less  force,   tliat   the 
crisis  be  not  renewed."     And  he  goes  on  to  say  that  "the  con- 


54  THE   LATIN   NATIONS  book  i 


cord  established  between  the  Senate  and  the  Chamber  of  Depu- 
ties will  permit  the  accomplishment  of  the  important  legislative 
measures  which  the  public  interest  craves." 

The  Cabinet  chosen  by  M.  Dufaure  was  thoroughly  Kepub- 
lican,  and  its  conduct  of  affairs  soon  put  the  Republic  upon  a 
firmer  footing.  MacMahon  no  longer  tried  to  control  the 
policy  of  the  administration.  Reactionary  prefects,  who  had 
used  their  influence  against  the  existing  Constitution,  were 
removed.  The  press  was  freed  from  restrictions.  Clerical 
control  of  education  was  resisted.  Officials  who  obstructed  the 
liberal  policy  of  the  Government  were  dismissed.  And  even 
iu  the  Senate  the  power  of  the  reactionists  was  broken.  By 
the  requirements  of  the  Constitution  seventy-five  senators 
retired  at  the  end  of  every  three  years  and  new  ones  were 
chosen  in  their  places.  On  January  5,  1879,  new  elections 
were  held,  and  out  of  seventy-five  seats  the  Republicans 
secured  all  but  sixteen.  This  victory  gave  them  a  majority 
in  the  Senate  as  well  as  in  the  Assembly. 

The  reactionists  did  not,  indeed,  cease  to  scheme  against  the 
Government.  On  November  13,  1878,  the  Legitimists,  the 
Orleanists,  and  the  Imperialists  united  in  a  manifesto  regard- 
ing the  way  in  which  the  senatorial  elections  Avere  conducted. 
And  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  the  same  month  a  letter  from  the 
Count  of  Chambord  was  published,  in  which  he  asserted  his 
rights  as  strongly  as  ever.  But  such  utterances  merely  served 
to  show  that  the  enemies  of  the  Republic  had  not  given  up 
hope.  They  excited  little  interest,  and  had  no  visible  effect. 
Every  year  the  Royalists  and  Bonapartists  seemed  less  likely 
to  realize  their  ambitions.  Their  claim  had  always  been  that 
a  republic  could  not  maintain  itself  in  France.  That  a  republic 
had  now  maintained  itself  for  nearly  a  decade  proved  that  the 
claim  was  false.  It  had  taken  only  six  years  for  monarchy, 
under  Charles  X.,  to  bring  on  a  revolution.  So,  when  the 
Count  of  Chambord  proclaimed,  in  1879,  "  With  the  cooperation 
of  all  honest  men,  and  the  grace  of  God,  I  may  save  France, 
and  will,"  he  only  made  himself  and  his  cause  absurd.  France 
was  on  the  way  of  progress;  and  so  far  as  she  needed  salvation 
she  could  not  find  it  from  a  bigoted  and  intolerant  Bourbon. 
She  had  tried  that  method  of  salvation,  and  it  had  brought  her 
the  excesses  of  1789. 


PART  I  THE   THIRD   IIEPUBLIC  55 

MacMahoii  had  reconciled  himself  to  a  liepublican  adminis- 
tration, but  he  did  not  enjoy  it.  He  saw  his  own  arrange- 
ments one  after  another  set  aside.  Finally,  when  it  was 
proposed  to  remove  his  old  military  associates  from  their  com- 
mands, he  determined  to  lay  down  his  office.  For  he  had 
served  with  these  men  under  the  Empire;  and  his  honor  as  a 
soldier  bade  him  stand  or  fall  with  them.  On  January  30  he 
sent  in  a  resignation  couched  in  dignified  language,  and  casting 
no  aspersions  upon  his  Ministers. 

President  MacMahon  was  not  a  Eepublican,  but  none  the 
less  he  had  done  the  Republic  good  service.  The  popular  idea 
regarding  his  civic  career  does  him  scant  justice.  For  the 
facts  especially  remembered  in  connection  with  him  are,  that 
he  was  elected  by  the  lloyalists,  that  he  forced  reactionist 
ministries  upon  the  nation,  interfered  with  the  freedom  of 
elections,  and  sustained  his  old  military  associates  against  the 
national  will  as  expressed  by  the  administration.  But  it  is 
not  to  be  forgotten  that  he  would  not  betray  the  Republic  into 
the  hands  of  the  Monarchists,  and  that  he  never  refused  to 
accept  the  verdict  of  the  people  when  it  had  made  itself  clearly 
manifest.  In  trying  to  control  elections  he  made  a  grievous 
mistake,  and  showed  that  heunderstood  very  imperfectly  the 
nature  of  popular  government.  But,  in  resisting  the  nation's 
voice  until  it  became  imperative,  he  acted  as  the  Duke  of 
Wellington  did  in  opposing  liberal  legislation.  Wellington 
resisted  progress  until  he  saw  that  resistance  meant  revolu- 
tion; but  at  that  point  he  gave  way.  He  therefore  stands  as 
an  admirable  type  of  the  conservative  statesman,  Avho  checks 
legislation  without  thwarting  it.  MaclMahon  cannot  be  com- 
pared with  liim  in  statesmanlike  grasp.  He  lacked  the 
political  sagacity  which  Wellington  got  from  his  Anglo-Saxon 
l)lood  and  traditions.  But  in  making  the  French  people  assert 
their  will,  and  in  boAving  to  that  will,  however  reluctantly,  he 
had  done  democracy  a  service.  He  had  shown  the  proper 
limits  of  conservative  opposition. 

On  the  same  day  that  MacMahon  tendered  his  resignation 
the  Senate  and  the  Assembly  met,  for  the  first  time  in  joint 
session,  to  elect  a  president  in  accordance  with  the  provisions 
of  the  Constitution;  and  they  chose  M.  Jules  Grevy  by  an 
overwhelming  majority.     The  new  President  was  a  moderate 


56  THE    LATIN   NATIONS  book  i 

Eepublican,  a  man  now  seventy-two  years  old,  who  had  long- 
commanded  the  confidence  of  the  nation  by  his  discretion  and 
his  integrity.  Under  him  the  country  felt  eminently  safe.  A 
period  of  progress  and  quiet  was  inaugurated  by  his  firm  and 
dignified  conduct  of  affairs. 

At  the  same  time  some  burning  questions  had  to  be  settled, 
and  dangers  which  did  not  lessen  as  time  went  on  had  to  be 
faced.  The  Communists,  many  of  whom  had  been  condemned 
to  exile  and  imprisonment  during  MacMahon's  presidency, 
clamored  for  a  full  pardon  for  political  offences.  The  Broglie 
ministry  had  clung  to  power  in  defiance  of  the  Constitution, 
and  some  Republicans  demanded  that  it  be  impeached.  And 
public  instruction  was  to  be  taken  out  of  the  hands  of  the 
priests. 

These  questions  were  settled,  not  without  some  difficulty. 
A  bill  practically  granting  full  amnesty  was  finally  passed,  in 
1880,  after  encountering  some  opposition  in  the  Senate.  De 
Broglie  and  his  colleagues  were  not  impeached,  but  a  resolu- 
tion declaring  that  they  had  betrayed  the  Republic  was  passed 
in  the  Assembly  and  placarded  in  every  commune  in  the 
nation.  No  doubt  De  Broglie  had  violated  the  spirit  of  the 
Constitution;  but  to  condemn  him  without  a  trial  seemed  a 
travesty  of  justice,  especially  considering  that  almost  every 
government  for  a  hundred  years  had  resorted  to  more  or  less 
high-handed  measures.  But  if  this  arbitrary  action  of  the 
Assembly  called  forth  some  indignant  protests,  it  did  not  ex- 
cite the  commotion  that  was  caused  in  settling  the  educational 
question.  The  Government  in  trying  to  control  the  priests  was 
drawn  into  a  conflict  with  the  Church.  The  Jesuits  in  par- 
ticular resisted  the  attempt  to  interfere  with  their  methods, 
for  they  owned  a  considerable  number  of  educational  institu- 
tions. But  the  warfare  once  engaged  in  was  vigorously  carried 
on;  and,  finally,  the  institutions  of  the  Jesuits  were  closed. 

In  this  crusade  against  the  priests,  and  in  the  matter  of  the 
amnesty,  a  potent  and  commanding  influence  had  been  exer- 
cised by  Leon  Gaujbetta.  Ever  since  the  establishment  of  the 
Republic,  in  1871,  this  brilliant  man  had  been  growing  in 
power.  It  was  he  who  had  offered  the  most  energetic  and 
audacious  resistance  to  MacMahon's  arbitrary  policy.  Indeed, 
he  had  not  hesitated  to  denounce  the  President  in  language  so 


PART  I  THE   THIRD    REPUBLIC  57 

pointed  that  the  Government  twice  sentenced  him  to  fine  and 
imprisonment.  Yet  it  refrained  from  carrying  out  its  own 
sentence,  for  it  did  not  dare  to  order  his  arrest.  With  tlie 
populace  Gambetta's  influence  was  unbounded.  He  had  a 
commanding  presence  and  was  gifted  with  a  fiery  eloquence 
which  thrilled  and  delighted  the  excitable  Celtic  mind.  His 
opinions,  moreover,  made  him  popular;  for  he  was  a  radical, 
though  not  an  extremist.  He  had  therefore  attained  to  an 
almost  dictatorial  position  in  the  early  years  of  Grevy's  ad- 
ministration. He  had  the  power  to  make  and  unmake  minis- 
ters; but  for  a  time  he  preferred  to  exercise  this  power  behind 
the  scenes,  and  to  remain  an  ordinary  member  of  the  Assem- 
bly rather  than  to  discharge  the  functions  of  office.  But  his 
ascendency  finally  made  his  acceptance  of  office  unavoidable. 
He  was  made  President  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  in  1879; 
in  1881  he  became  Prime  Minister,  and  served  in  that  position 
till  he  was  defeated  in  the  Assembly  in  1882.  But  his  brill- 
iant career  was  suddenly  cut  short.  He  died  in  Paris  in 
December,  1882,  at  the  age  of  forty-four.  He  had  been  a  tower 
of  strength  to  the  Republic,  and  his  loss  was  deeply  mourned. 
Yet  he  was  rather  a  politician  than  a  statesman;  and  his  death 
hardly  altered  the  course  of  national  affairs. 

None  the  less  France  sorely  needed  every  able  and  loyal 
servant  she  could  command.  For  all  was  not  well  with  the 
Eepublic.  Its  stability  was  menaced  by  various  adverse  con- 
ditions. True,  it  had  been  strengthened  by  its  conflict  with 
MacMahon;  it  seemingly  had  a  prosperous  career  under 
Grevy's  administration.  For  the  nation  was  growing  in 
wealth  and  power.  The  international  exposition  at  Paris,  in 
1878,  had  made  this  apparent.  Yet  dangers  existed;  and  some 
of  them  seemed  to  become  more  formidable  as  the  years  passed 
by.     The  following  were  the  graver  features  of  the  situation : 

I.  The  financial  condition  of  the  nation  was  far  from  sat- 
isfactory. The  debt  was  alarmingly  great  and  the  revenue 
insufficient.  The  cost  of  the  Franco-Prussian  AVar  had  been 
enormous,  for  the  expense  of  conducting  it  had  been  very 
heavy  apart  from  the  indemnity  of  a  billion  dollars  paid  to 
Germany.  But  the  truth  was,  the  debt  had  been  growing 
through  the  entire  century.  Neither  monarchy  nor  eiiii)ire 
had  administered  the  national  finances  with  discretion.     In- 


58  THE   LATIN  NATIONS  book  i 


come  liad  fallen  below  expenditure,  and  the  deficiency  had 
been  made  good  by  loans.  Hence,  the  debt  was  very  large 
before  the  War  of  1870;  and  when  the  indemnity  had  been 
paid  to  Germany,  it  had  risen  to  more  than  six  billion  dollars. 
But  so  large  a  debt  involved  the  need  of  an  enormous  revenue ; 
for  the  annual  interest  on  loans  was  in  itself  a  heavy  item  of 
expenditure.  And  this  revenue  the  Government  found  itself 
unable  to  provide.  Every  year  it  had  to  raise  more  than  six 
hundred  million  dollars;  and  every  year  it  resorted  to  addi- 
tional loans  in  order  to  meet  its  expenses.  So  the  Republic 
was  pursuing  the  same  fatuous  financial  policy  that  had  charac- 
terized preceding  governments.  True,  the  deficit  was  not  large, 
and  by  skilful  manipulation  of  figures  it  was  sometimes  en- 
tirely concealed.  Moreover,  the  nation  was  growing  in  wealth, 
and  its  accumulated  capital  was  many  times  larger  than  its  in- 
debtedness. National  bankruptcy,  therefore,  was  not  impend- 
ing. That  the  nation  would  sometime  repudiate  its  debts  no  one 
could  believe.  Yet  the  annual  failure  to  make  income  meet  ex- 
penditure was  an  unfortunate,  not  to  say  a  menacing  situation. 
II.  The  Republic  was  not  supported  by  a  dominant  and  un- 
divided party  in  the  Assembly.  The  Royalists  and  Bonapart- 
ists  were  hostile;  the  Republicans  were  divided  into  factions. 
The  latter  were  largely  in  the  majority  in  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies.  Whenever  they  united  to  help  the  Government, 
they  were  able  to  carry  any  measure  that  they  pleased.  But 
they  represented  men  of  diverse  and  almost  contradictory 
opinions.  There  were  Conservatives,  Moderates,  Radicals, 
Extremists,  and  Anarchists;  and  some  of  these  factions  were 
thoroughly  hostile  to  each  other.  The  Conservatives  were 
rather  inclined  to  accept  the  Republic  on  trial  than  to  believe 
in  it  heartily.  Like  Thiers,  Avhom  they  followed  while  he 
lived,  they  believed  that  progress  should  be  made  slowly  and 
cautiously,  and  that  sweeping  and  radical  measures  of  reform 
should  not  be  countenanced.  The  Moderates,  or  Opportunists, 
as  they  were  termed,  had  been  followers  of  Gambetta,  and 
represented  opinions  which  were  liberal  without  being  extreme. 
More  thoroughly  devoted  to  the  Republican  idea  than  the  Con- 
servatives, they  were  not  in  full  sympathy  with  the  Radicals, 
who  were  eager  for  immediate  and  fundamental  changes.  The 
election  of  the  chief  magistrate  of  the  nation  by  popular  bal- 


PART  I  THE   THIRD   REPUBLIC  59 


lot,  and  the  immediate  sei^aration  of  Church  and  State,  were 
the  two  most  prominent  features  of  the  radical  programme. 
The  Extremists  and  the  Communists  were  not  numerically  im- 
portant, but  they  tried  to  make  up  for  their  weakness  by  noise 
and  turbulence.  Some  of  them  were  Anarchists  of  tlie  most 
pronounced  type,  who  delighted  in  revolution  and  destruction. 

The  nobility  of  France  was  bitterly  opposed  to  the  Eepublic 
and  stood  ready  to  take  advantage  of  any  opportunity  to 
destro}'  it.  Some  of  its  members  were  Monarchists,  some 
were  Imperialists;  nearly  all  were  convinced  that  Kepublican 
principles  were  dangerous.  The  Imperialists  suffered  some 
loss  of  prestige  when  the  Prince  Imperial,  the  only  son  of 
Napoleon  III.,  was  killed  in  South  Africa,  in  1879.  After 
his  death  most  of  his  party  adopted,  as  their  head.  Prince 
Napoleon,  son  of  Jerome  Napoleon  and  nephew  of  the  great 
Emperor.  But  a  few  attached  themselves  to  his  son.  Prince 
Victor.  The  Monarchists,  who  were  more  numerous  and  more 
influential  than  the  Imperialists,  looked  to  the  Count  of  Paris 
as  their  head  after  the  death  of  the  Count  of  Chambord,  in 
1883.  They  were  not  active  and  aggressive,  but  they  had  by 
no  means  given  up  the  hope  of  reestablishing  the  monarchy. 
Not  over-scrupulous,  they  were  ready  to  use  any  political 
adventurer  as  a  tool  for  overturning  the  Government  and 
crowning  the  royal  candidate.  And  if  they  did  not  openly 
assail  the  Republic,  they  absolutely  refused  to  support  or 
encourage  it.  It  was  a  fixed  principle  with  them  and  the 
Bonapartists  to  stand  aloof  from  the  Government  and  to  accept 
no  office  under  it.  So  firmly  was  this  code  adhered  to  that 
disobedience  to  it  involved  loss  of  caste.  For  many  years, 
therefore,  the  younger  members  of  the  aristocracy  did  not  dare 
to  give  the  Republic  a  loyal  support,  even  if  they  were  imbued 
with  liberal  principles,  as  was  sometimes  the  case. 

Altogether  the  warfare  of  factions  was  disturbing,  and  stood 
in  the  way  of  settled  policy  and  steady  progress.^ 

1  Time  has  rather  intensified  tliau  diminished  this  factional  warfare.  The 
Revue  Politique  et  Parlementaire,  10  Aoiit,  1899,  contains  an  article  entitled 
"Dela  Dissociation  et  de  la  Concentration  des  Parties  Politiques,"  in  which 
the  (lisintci;rati(in  of  parties  is  admitted  and  deplored,  and  a  peculiar  remedy 
is  sn.i;sosted.  For  the  author  recommends  that  no  party  should  govern  the 
country,  however  large  its  majority,  hut  that  every  party  should  have  a  share 
in  the  government  in  proportion  to  its  strength  among  the  constituencies.  A 
thoroughly  French  view  of  politics. 


60  THE  LATIN  NATIONS  book  i 

III.  The  spirit  of  chauvinism  was  leading  the  whole  nation 
astray.  The  French  are  fond  of  military  glory.  They  cannot 
forget  defeat  and  humiliation.  The  reverses  of  the  Franco- 
Prussian  War  had  wounded  the  national  pride  almost  beyond 
endurance.  A  long  line  of  past  victories  seemed  to  demand 
that  the  disgrace  of  Sedan  be  wiped  out.  To  win  back  Alsace 
and  Lorraine  had  become  the  deep  and  passioiiate  desire  of 
the  whole  French  people.  To  this  end  they  were  willing  to 
undergo  any  sacrifice  and  to  put  forth  every  exertion.  The 
national  honor  must  be  vindicated  at  any  cost.  Hence,  the 
a.rmy  was  reorganized,  military  training  was  made  rigid  and 
universal;  the  whole  country  seemed  to  echo  with  warlike 
preparation  and  high-sounding  military  sentiment.  To  this 
spirit  the  term  "chauvinism"  has  been  aptly  applied  ever 
since  a  soldier  named  Chauvin  made  himself  conspicuous  under 
the  first  Napoleon  by  his  loud  and  foolish  boasting.  From 
his  name  comes  the  term,  which  has  been  well  defined  as 
"unreasoning,  irascible,  and  vainglorious  patriotism."  It 
was  just  this  exaggerated  patriotism  that  now  animated  the 
mind  of  the  French.  It  made  the  people  lose  all  sense  of  pro- 
portion and  just  values  in  national  affairs.  To  them  political 
growth,  educational  reform,  stability  of  government,  and  com- 
mercial prosperity  had  less  importance  than  the  reconquest  of 
lost  territory  and  the  recovery  of  lost  military  glory.  So  the 
nation  turned  away  from  those  ideals  of  peaceful  progress  that 
belong  peculiarly  to  democratic  countries  and  to  the  closing 
decades  of  the  nineteenth  century.  It  deliberately  adopted 
the  policy  of  maintaining  a  large  standing  army  at  great 
expense;  and  it  looked  eagerly  around  for  an  ally  among  the 
first-rate  military  powers  of  Europe.  Germany  had  strength- 
ened herself  by  the  Triple  Alliance;  so  France  courted  the 
friendship  of  Russia.  And  while  the  two  nations  hardly  came 
to  a  definite  understanding,  it  was  quite  generally  assumed 
that,  if  a  European  war  should  break  out,  Eussia  would  side 
with  France  and  give  her  substantial  support.  But  as  time 
passed  the  probability  that  France  would  humble  Germany 
grew  more  and  more  remote.  The  population  of  France  re- 
mained almost  stationary;  that  of  Germany  increased  rapidly, 
in  spite  of  extensive  emigration.  And  although  the  French 
army  equalled  the  German  in  point  of  numbers,  no  competent 


PART  I  THE   Til  IK U    REPUBLIC  61 

judges  believed  that  French  gallantry  was  a  match  for  the  dis- 
ciplined  German  intelligence.  But  still  France  clung  with 
marvellous  tenacity  to  the  vanishing  hope  of  reconquest,  and 
draped  with  mourning  in  her  public  squares  statues  marked 
Alsace  and  Lorraine. 

IV.  The  centralization  established  by  Napoleon  T. ,  and  never 
done  away  with  by  succeeding  governments,  was  working  the 
Republic  harm.  It  prevented  the  administration  from  truly 
expressing  the  national  will.  For  the  President  and  the  Min- 
istry do  not  hold  their  power  as  the  gift  of  the  people  like  the 
English  Prime  Minister  and  his  Cabinet.  The  President  does 
not  receive  the  sanction  of  a  popular  vote;  and  the  ministry 
represents  individual  popularity  rather  than  party  policy.  In 
England  the  defeat  of  a  ministry  means  that  tlie  party  for 
which  it  stands  has  lost  its  majority  and  must  appeal  to  the 
country.  In  France  the  fall  of  a  ministry  only  means  that  its 
head  no  longer  commands  the  confidence  of  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies,  and  must  give  way  to  some  more  popular  man. 
Hence,  ministries  rise  and  fall  in  rapid  succession,  while  yet 
the  Government's  policy  does  not  materially  change.  For  that 
policy  is  not  in  the  main  dictated  by  the  people  through  its 
representatives.  The  Government  is  so  strongly  centralized 
that  it  can  to  a  considerable  degree  force  its  own  policy  upon 
the  nation.  It  can  make  its  authority  felt  in  every  commune; 
and  so  long  as  it  does  not  run  counter  to  national  prejudice 
and  feeling,  it  can  be  arbitrary  and  dictatorial.  But  this  veiy 
power  brings  with  it  great  temptations.  French  bureaucracy 
is  corrupt ;  yet  its  officials  are  too  strongly  entrenched  behind 
the  Government's  authority  to  be  reached  and  controlled. 

Altogether  it  was  becoming  apparent  that  democracy  could 
not  be  the  same  thing  in  France  that  it  is  in  a  thoroughly 
democratic  country  like  America.  The  party  system  in  France 
is  peculiar  to  a  nation  with  ancient  traditions,  in  that  it  puts 
privilege  against  progress.  Moreover,  the  Republicans  them- 
selves have  failed  to  unite  in  support  of  a  moderate,  definite, 
and  progressive  policy.  Divided  into  factions  as  they  are,  they 
cannot  stand  in  solid  opposition  to  the  reactionists  as  the 
Liberals  are  arrayed  against  the  Conservatives  in  England. 
True,  there  are  divisions  among  the  English  Liberals,  but  they 
do  not  prevent  the  party  from  following  one  leader  and  from 


62  THE   LATIN   NATIONS  book  i 

working  together  in  matters  of  grave  importance.  But  the 
French  Radicals  are  not  easily  led  and  controlled  by  the  Gov- 
ernment Republicans. 

In  spite  of  obstacles,  however,  Grevy's  administration  con- 
tinued firm  and  vigorous.  He  was  reelected  to  the  presidency 
on  December  28,  1885,  and  under  his  wise  and  conservative 
management  of  affairs  the  Republic  gained  in  strength  and 
popularity,  though  it  could  not  yet  rise  above  the  fear  of  Roy- 
alist machinations.  It  still  regarded  the  Monarchists  with 
dread;  and  in  June,  1886,  it  took  bold  and  decided  measures 
against  them.  The  heads  of  dynastic  families  were  banished 
from  France  ;  and  the  Ministry  was  empowered  to  banish  junior 
members  of  these  families  if  such  a  step  at  any  time  seemed 
necessary.  The  Count  of  Paris  and  Victor  Napoleon,  who  was 
now  the  recognized  head  of  the  Bonapartists,  were  thus  forced 
to  leave  their  country.  The  former  went  to  England,  where 
refugees  have  so  often  found  an  asylum ;  the  latter  retired  to 
Brussels. 

Though  this  arbitrary  action  was  a  confession  of  weakness, 
it  was  not  without  justification.  About  this  time  General 
Boulanger,  the  Minister  of  War,  began  to  grow  popular  in 
Paris ;  and  as  his  popularity  iticreased  the  Royalists  planned 
to  use  him  as  a  tool  for  upsetting  the  Republic.  But  before  the 
Boulanger  movement  assumed  formidable  proportions,  the  atten- 
tion of  the  country  was  absorbed  by  a  scandal  which  brought 
M.  Grevy's  presidency  to  a  sudden  termination.  It  was  found 
that  General  Caffarel  had  been  selling  the  coveted  ribbon  of 
the  Legion  of  Honor.  A  certain  Madame  Limousin  had  con- 
ducted the  negotiations  between  him  and  would-be  purchasers 
of  the  decoration;  and  from  her  the  affair  took  the  name  of 
the  "  Limousin  Scandal."  M.  Wilson,  President  Grevy's  son- 
in-law,  proved  to  be  implicated.  He  was  said  to  have  deco- 
rated the  builder  of  his  house  for  a  consideration.  He  had  also 
abused  M.  Grevy's  stamp  privilege ;  and  Avhen  he  found  his  char- 
acter impeached,  he  refunded  forty  thousand  francs  for  stamps 
before  any  demand  was  made  upon  him.  M.  Grevy  himself 
was  neither  implicated  nor  suspected.  His  honesty  was  above 
.  reproach.  But  he  felt  himself  involved  in  his  son-in-law's  dis- 
grace, and  reluctantly  laid  down  his  office.  His  resignation 
was  tendered  on  December  2,  1887 ;   and  M.  Sadi-Carnot  was 


PART  I  THE   THIRD    REPUBLIC  63 

chosen  to  succeed  him.  M.  Caniot  was  not  regarded  as  a 
very  strong, or  able  man,  bnt  rather  as  a  safe  one.  The  two 
most  prominent  candidates  for  the  presidency  were  M.  Ferry 
and  M.  Freycinet;  but  they  failed  to  be  elected,  because 
each  of  them,  by  reason  of  his  very  brilliancy,  aroused  mis- 
trust. 

M.  Carnot  did  not  belie  expectations.  He  proved  a  moder- 
ate, cautious,  and  conservative  head  of  the  nation ;  and  during 
his  administration  the  Republic  continued  to  make  headway. 
For  a  time  the  Boulanger  movement  caused  excitement  and 
appeared  slightly  threatening ;  but  Boulanger's  own  character 
deprived  it  of  solid  strength.  He  was  simply  an  excitable,  vain- 
glorious Frenchman ;  an  excellent  embodiment  of  the  spirit  of 
chauvinism.  In  genius  and  first-rate  courage  he  was  lacking. 
But  he  Avas  idolized  by  the  populace  of  Paris,  and  he  showed 
some  organizing  ability  in  leading  and  directing  them.  All 
those  who  were  discontented  with  the  Republic  rallied  about 
him,  and  for  several  years  he  was  a  standing  menace  to  French 
politics.  He  was  returned  to  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  more 
than  once  by  enormous  majorities,  and  there  he  appeared  as 
the  champion  of  all  the  malcontents.  The  clergy,  the  Royalists, 
the  Imperialists,  and  the  Socialists  united  in  support  of  his 
schemes,  wdiich  began  to  look  tow^ard  terminating  the  Republic. 
But  in  1888  he  was  severely  wounded  in  a  duel  wdth  a  citizen, 
Prime  Minister  Floquet ;  and  he  suffered  some  loss  of  prestige. 
In  1889  he  was  found  guilty  of  embezzlement ;  and,  on  being 
accused  of  conspiring  against  the  Republic,  he  fled  to  Great 
Britain.  But  his  trial  Avent  on,  notwithstanding  his  absence, 
and  he  was  sentenced  to  transportation  for  life.  In  1891  he 
committed  suicide.  Before  his  death  it  transpired  that  the 
Duchess  d'Uzes  had  furnished  three  million  francs  to  support 
the  movement  in  his  favor,  Avith  the  understanding  that  the 
money  was  to  be  refunded  to  her  if  the  Count  of  Paris  was 
placed  upon  the  throne. 

The  Boulanger  movement,  with  its  vicissitudes  and  its 
excitements,  did  not  obscure  the  growth  of  the  nation.  The 
international  exposition  at  Paris  in  1889  gave  striking  proof  of 
the  industrial  energy  of  the  country.  In  completeness  and 
variety  it  surpassed  all  other  expositions  that  had  been  given  ; 
and  it  served  as  an  argument  for  the  Republic.     For  the  form 


64  THE   LATIN   NATIONS  boor  i 

of  government  that  could  so  encourage  prosperity  hardly 
needed  to  be  set  aside. 

In  1891  a  declaration  of  Cardinal  Lavigerie,  famous  for  his 
exertions  against  the  slave-trade  in  Africa,  showed  that  the 
Republic  was  growing  in  stability  and  favor.  For  this  emi- 
nent prelate  declared  it  to  be  the  only  possible  form  of  govern- 
ment for  France;  and  several  archbishops  and  bishops  of  the 
country  expressed  their  approval  of  his  utterance.  Nor  were 
there  wanting  occasional  signs  that  the  younger  members  of 
the  nobility  were  ready  to  give  the  Government  loyal  service 
and  to  abandon  monarchy  as  a  lost  cause. 

But  the  Government  received  a  severe  bloAv  in  1893,  when 
the  Panama  scandal  was  exposed.  It  was  found  that  a  large 
portion  of  the  money  invested  in  the  canal  scheme  had  been 
used  for  corrupt  purposes.  The  press  had  been  bought.  Sen- 
ators and  deputies  had  been  bribed.  After  a  long  investigation 
a  number  of  prominent  men  were  committed  for  trial.  M.  de 
Lesseps,  the  originator  of  the  project,  and  his  son  Charles  were 
sentenced  to  imprisonment  for  five  years  and  to  a  fine  of  three 
thousand  francs  each.  Several  others  were  convicted,  but  they 
received  sentences  less  severe.  But  these  findings  were  quashed 
by  a  higher  court.  Only  Charles  de  Lesseps  was  imprisoned,  and 
he  Avas  liberated  after  a  short  time.  But  the  canal  scheme  for 
the  time  fell  through.  The  original  stockholders  lost  practi- 
cally the  whole  billion  francs  which  they  had  invested  in  the 
enterprise.  But  in  1894  they  formed  a  new  company,  which 
attempted  to  complete  the  work.  The  original  plan  of  a  tide 
water  canal  was  abandoned  in  favor  of  one  with  locks,  though 
even  this  modified  scheme  was  pronounced  unwise  by  some 
engineering  experts. 

In  spite  of  the  canal  scandal,  with  its  attendant  disclosures 
of  corruption,  the  Republicans  won  a  signal  victory  in  the 
national  elections  of  1893.  In  the  new  Chamber  of  Depu- 
ties the  Government  supporters  numbered  292 ;  while  the  Royal- 
ists and  Imperialists  together  numbered  but  58.  But  the 
Socialist  Radicals  made  great  and  surprising  gains.  In  the 
early  years  of  Grevy's  administration  they  were  a  mere  hand- 
ful in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies.  In  the  newly  elected  Cham- 
ber they  counted  187  members.  They  could  not,  indeed, 
control  legislation,  but  they  were  formidable,  and  might 
become  dangerous  if  their  numbers  increased. 


PART  1  THE    THIRD   RETUBLIC  65 

Carnot's  administration  gave  general  satisfaction,  and  it  was 
fully  expected  that  he  woukl  be  reelected  to  the  presidency.  But 
on  June  24,  1894,  not  very  long  before  his  term  was  to  expire, 
he  was  assassinated  at  Lyons  by  an  anarchist  named  Cesario 
Santo.  M.  Casimir-Perier,  who  had  been  for  some  time  prom- 
inent in  French  politics  and  had  already  served  as  Prime  Min- 
ister, was  immediately  chosen  to  be  the  nation's  executive.  In 
this  same  year,  on  September  9,  occurred  the  death  of  the 
Count  of  Paris.  His  son,  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  became  the 
new  claimant  for  the  throne ;  but  he  lacked  his  father's  dignity 
of  character.  He  had  shown  himself  frivolous  and  unworthy. 
The  monarchist  cause  seemed  discredited  under  such  leader- 
ship. 

The  nomination  of  M.  Casimir-Perier  was  acceptable  to  the 
country.  But  on  January  15,  1895,  only  about  six  months 
after  he  had  taken  office,  came  the  startling  news  of  his  resig- 
nation. He  alleged  that  a  campaign  of  insult  and  slander  was 
being  ca;'ried  on  against  himself,  the  army,  the  magistracy,  and 
the  legislature;  and  he  made  some  blind  allusions  to  his  own 
powerlessness.  But  the  real  cause  of  his  strange  action  was 
not  revealed.  He  was  immediately  succeeded  by  M.  Felix 
Faure,  a  self-made  man  of  considerable  ability,  who  had  held 
several  cabinet  positions  under  different  ministries.  M.  Faure 
proved  on  the  whole  an  efficient  executive,  and  for  a  time,  both 
politically  and  socially,  he  grew  in  favor.  Always  dignified 
and  self-possessed,  he  filled  most  acceptably  the  more  exter- 
nal functions  of  his  office,  and  met  the  crowned  heads  of 
Europe  with  a  bearing  that  satisfied  the  fastidious  French 
people.  But  in  time  it  became  apparent  that  he  lacked 
strength  of  character  and  true  greatness  of  mind.  Accordingly, 
when  a  crisis  came,  he  was  utterly  unable  to  lead  the  nation 
which  had  honored  him  with  its  highest  office. 

It  was  a  very  serious  crisis  that  came  during  President 
Faure's  administration,  and  for  a  time  it  seemed  likely  to  end 
in  the  overthrow  of  the  Bepublic.  On  December  31,  1894, 
Captain  Alfred  Dreyfus  of  the  French  army  was  sentenced  to 
degradation  from  his  rank  and  to  life  exile  and  imprison- 
ment because  of  alleged  treasonable  correspondence  with  for- 
eign powers.  The  sentence  was  passed  by  a  court  of  French 
army  officers,  and  it  was  accepted  as  just  by  the  army  and  the 


66  THE   LATIN   NATIONS  "  book  i 

French  people  generally.  Indeed,  the  feeling  against  Dreyfus 
was  intense ;  for  he  was  a  Hebrew,  and  all  who  could  be 
swayed  by  the  widespread  anti-Semitic  prejudice  reviled  and 
execrated  his  name.  But  his  trial  had  been  a  secret  one,  and 
some  men  of  probity  and  discernment  doubted  the  justice  of 
the  verdict.  Colonel  Picquart,  head  of  the  Secret  Service 
Bureau,  was  one  of  Dreyf  us's  most  stalwart  champions ;  M. 
Scheurer-Kestner,  of  the  Senate,  was  strongly  inclined  to 
believe  in  his  innocence ;  and  some  of  the  ablest  writers  in 
Paris  eventually  took  up  his  cause,  though  the  press  was  for 
the  most  part  bitterly  hostile  to  him.  Of  these  writers  M. 
Emile  Zola,  the  famous  novelist,  was  the  most  conspicuous  and 
the  most  outspoken. 

But  although  Dreyfus  did  not  lack  friends,  it  was  not  until 
the  latter  part  of  1897  that  his  case  began  to  attract  general 
interest  and  to  cause  serious  agitation  and  disturbance.  By 
that  time,  however,  it  had  become  widely  suspected  that 
Colonel  Esterhazy,  a  military  adventurer,  was  the  author  of  the 
bordereau,  or  document,  which  Dreyfus  had  been  accused  of 
writing,  and  on  account  of  which  he  had  been  condemned. 
Accordingly,  Esterhazy  was  tried  by  a  court-martial  in  Jan- 
uary, 1898.  He  was  acquitted,  but  the  court  that  made  the 
investigation  was  so  manifestly  biassed  in  his  favor  that  M. 
Zola  denounced  its  proceedings  as  a  mockery  of  justice.  As 
his  charges  affected  the  honor  of  the  Government,  he  was  him- 
self prosecuted,  and  was  sentenced  to  a  fine  of  three  thousand 
francs  and  to  imprisonment  for  four  months.  But  in  his  trial 
also  there  was  an  iitter  lack  of  fair  jjlay,  and  his  sentence  was 
quashed  by  the  Court  of  Cassation,  the  supreme  tribunal  of 
justice  in  France.  The  Government  thereupon  decided  upon  a 
fresh  prosecution  ;  but  as  M.  Zola  found  that  he  would  not  be 
allowed  to  establish  his  case  by  using  evidence  bearing  upon 
the  question  of  Dreyfus's  innocence,  he  let  the  second  trial 
go  by  default,  and  he  was  now  sentenced  to  twelve  months' 
imprisonment  and  to  a  fine  of  three  thousand  francs.  But  he 
left  Paris  before  the  judgment  was  formally  communicated  to 
him. 

These  proceedings  had  brought  the  Dreyfus  affair  promi- 
nently before  the  French  nation ;  but  the  whole  military  party 
was  arrayed  against  the  condemned  man,  and  it  was  with  great 


PART  I  THE   THIRD   REPUBLIC  67 


difficulty  that  the  revision  of  his  case  which  his  friends  de- 
manded was  obtained.  President  Faure,  who  shoukl  have 
used  the  weight  of  his  position  in  favor  of  revision,  would  do 
nothing  for  the  prisoner  ;  and  a  powerful  coterie  of  army  officers 
tried  to  establish  Dreyfus's  guilt  by  the  most  unscrupulous 
methods.  They  did  not  hesitate  to  disseminate  falsehoods 
and  to  forge  incriminating  documents ;  and  finding  that  Colo- 
nel Picquart  stood  in  the  way  of  their  schemes,  they  succeeded 
in  placing  him  in  prison  on  a  charge  of  forgery.  But  after  a 
time  their  infamies  came  to  light.  On  August  30,  1898,  Colo- 
nel Henry,  one  of  the  band  of  conspirators,  on  being  closely 
questioned  by  the  Minister  of  War,  admitted  that  he  had 
forged  a  certain  important  letter,  "because  of  the  absolute 
necessity  for  finding  proofs  against  Dreyfus."  He  was  imme- 
diately arrested,  and  only  two  days  later  he  was  found  dead 
in  prison.  Whether  he  committed  suicide  or  was  murdered 
by  those  who  had  made  him  their  tool,  was  not  surely  known. 
But  his  death  and  his  confession  of  guilt  made  a  profound 
impression  upon  the  French  people  and  caused  a  reaction  in 
Dreyfus's  favor.  Even  the  Government,  which  had  used  its 
influence  against  him,  no  longer  dared  to  oppose  revision,  and 
his  case  was  accordingly  brought  before  the  Court  of  Cassation 
in  October,  1898. 

This  action  might  fairly  have  been  expected  to  quiet  feeling 
and  to  cause  both  the  enemies  and  the  friends  of  Dreyfus  to 
await  with  calmness  the  verdict  of  so  weighty  a  tribunal.  But 
the  contrary  was  the  case.  The  Dreyfus  aifair  was  more  and 
more  searchingly  probed  by  the  press,  and  the  crooked  and  dis- 
honorable ways  of  the  military  were  so  fully  revealed  that  the 
army  began  to  lose  its  prestige.  How  then  should  it  vindicate 
itself  before  the  nation  ?  By  a  coujj  d'etat  it  was  prophesied 
by  many;  and  their  expectation  was  not  wholly  groundless. 
The  Duke  of  Orleans  and  Prince  Louis  Napoleon  ^  each  stood 
ready  to  enter  France  and  overthrow  the  Kepublic,  if  a  fitting 
opportunity  presented  itself. 

But  the  generals  were  either  too  loyal  or  too  timid  to  inau- 
gurate a  revolution,  and  even  when  the  nation  was  left  tenipo- 

1  Prince  Victor,  the  older  brother  of  Lonis,  is  the  recognized  head  of  the 
Iin])(>ri:ili.sts  (p.  (W).  P>ut  Louis,  as  posscssini;  greater  energy  and  ability  than 
his  brother,  seemed  better  fitted  to  be  the  head  of  a  revolutionary  movement. 


68  THE    LATIN   NATIONS  book  i 

rarily  without  a  head  there  was  no  outbreak.  On  the  evening 
of  February  16,  1899,  President  Faure  died  suddenly  of  apo- 
plexy;  but  two  days  later  M.  Euiile  Loubet,  an  eminent^  and 
widely  respected  man,  was  quietly  elected  to  the  vacant  office, 
and  there  was  no  attempt  to  overthrow  the  Government  beyond 
an  incendiary  but  utterly  futile  appeal  to  the  military  on  the 
part  of  one  misguided  individual.  Thus  the  Eepublic  scored 
a  notable  triumph ;  for  M.  Loubet  was  a  man  of  sterling  in- 
tegrity, and  though  he  had  not  openly  expressed  himself  in 
favor  of  Dreyfus,  no  one  doubted  that  he  wished  to  see  jus- 
tice done  and  that  he  would  uphold  the  Court  of  Cassation's 
verdict. 

That  verdict  was  given  early  in  June  and  was  in  favor  of 
Dreyfus.  The  Court  expressed  its  profound  conviction  that 
the  prisoner  had  been  condemned  on  insufficient  evidence,  and 
that  there  were  grave  reasons  for  considering  Colonel  Ester- 
hazy  the  guilty  person.  It  therefore  ordered  a  new  trial.  To 
meet  this  requirement  of  the  Court,  Dreyfus  was  brought  back 
from  Devil's  Island,  off  the  coast  of  French  Guiana,  where  he 
had  been  confined ;  and  after  a  few  weeks  was  court-martialed 
anew  at  Rennes.  But  his  second  trial,  although  not  secret 
like  the  first,  was  also  nothing  better  than  a  travesty  of  justice. 
It  began  on  August  7  and  lasted  for  five  weeks,  during  which 
time  many  witnesses  were  called  to  the  stand  by  the  prosecu- 
tion and  by  the  defence,  and  a  large  number  of  documents  that 
were  supposed  to  bear  upon  the  case  were  examined.  The 
evidence  against  the  accused  was  too  weak  to  be  worthy  of 
serious  consideration,  and  could  not  possibly  have  procured 
his  conviction  in  any  fair-minded  court.  But  the  court  was 
not  fair-minded.  It  was  composed  of  seven  army  officers,  and 
was  therefore  under  that  baleful  shadow  of  militarism  that 
was  enshrouding  the  nation.  Hence,  although  Dreyfus  was 
ably  defended  by  Maitre  Labori,  the  distinguished  lawyer  who 
had  pleaded  so  powerfully  at  M.  Zola's  trial,  he  was  found 
guilty  and  was  sentenced  to  imprisonment  for  ten  years.  But 
the  Government  did  not  allow  the  sentence  to  stand.  Upon 
the  recommendation  of  General  Gallifet,  the  Minister  of  War, 
Dreyfus  was  promptly  pardoned  by  President  Loubet  and  was 

1  M.  Loubet  had  been  National  Deputy,  Senator,  Minister  of  Public  Works, 
Prime  Minister,  and  President  of  the  Senate. 


PART  I  THE   THIRD   REPUBLIC  69 

thus  saved  from  further  confinement,  though  his  honor  was 
not  cleared.^ 

In  recommending  the  pardon  of  Dreyfus,  General  Gallifet 
announced  that  "  the  incident  was  closed."  But  such  was  not 
the  view  of  sober-minded  people  the  world  over  who  had  fol- 
lowed the  course  of  this  extraordinary  case.  A  grave  injustice 
had  been  done,  and  it  remained  to  be  seen  whether  the  French 
people  had  the  moral  strength  to  right  so  monstrous  a  wrong. 
It  was  useless  to  assert  that  the  condemned  man  had  sold 
secrets  to  the  very  allies  of  France,  and  that  his  treasonable 
doings  could  not  be  brought  to  light  without  endangering  the 
safety  of  the  nation.  The  one  fact  which  the  world  noted 
was  that  Dreyfus  was  never  proved  guilty.  So  far  as  the 
evidence  went,  he  was  an  innocent  man.  It  was  therefore 
necessary  for  the  honor  of  the  nation  that  a  verdict  which  was 
in  utter  defiance  of  law  and  justice  should  not  go  unrighted. 
To  allow  it  to  stand  was  to  acknowledge  that  the  civil  power 
was  subservient  to  the  military,  and  that  the  republican  insti- 
tutions of  the  country  did  not  insure  the  rights  of  the  individ- 
ual. Government  by  the  people  does  not  exist  where  a  ring 
of  unscrupulous  generals  can  dominate  the  courts  and  defeat 
the  ends  of  justice. 

But  even  if  the  verdict  given  at  E-ennes  were  to  be  altered 
by  a  higher  tribunal,  the  question  would  still  arise,  what  polit- 
ical gains  have  been  made  by  the  French  nation  since  1789  ? 
The  history  of  more  than  a  hundred  years  shows  revolution, 
upheaval,  restlessness  under  every  form  of  government,  and  at 

1  Dreyfus  is  not  the  only  one  who  has  suffered  from  the  inability  of  French 
judges  to  free  their  minds  from  prejudice  and  render  their  verdict  in  accord- 
ance with  facts.  The  injustice  of  his  sentence  may  well  call  to  mind  the  case 
of  the  Siamese  officer,  Pra  Yaut,  who  was  condemned  by  a  French  court  on 
equally  insufficient  evidence.  While  Siam  was  at  war  with  Frnnce  in  ]SiK>, 
Pra  Yaut,  with  a  force  of  Siamese  soldiers,  attacked  a  French  post  on  the 
river  Mekouj;,  not  knowing  that  the  ground  where  the  French  were  encamped 
had  been  newly  ceded  to  France  by  the  Siamese  Government.  In  the  course 
of  the  engagement  the  commander  of  the  French  post,  M.  Grosgurin,  was 
killed,  and  the  French  accordingly  demanded  that  Pra  Yaut  should  be  tried 
for  murder  by  French  judges.  This  demand  the  Siamese  sovereign.  King 
Chulalongkorn,  resisted  :  but  he  gave  way  when  a  French  fleet  blockaded  the 
Menam  River  in  July,  l.S'.i:5.  Although  Pra  Yaut  was  ably  defended  and  his 
innocence  of  wrong  intent  was  clearly  shown,  he  was  condemned  by  his 
French  judges  to  twenty  years  of  hard  labor.  Consult  Contemporary  Review, 
71:  WK). 


70  THE   LATIN   NATIONS  book  i 

the  end  a  whole  people  blinded  to  right  and  honor  by  their 
military  idols.  Was  it  for  this  that  the  third  estate  assumed 
control  of  the  nation  and  sent  Louis  XVI.  to  the  scaffold  ? 
Surely  democracy  should  mean  something  better  than  political 
instability  and  corrupt  centralization. 

But  a  sober  view  of  this  very  century  of  disqiiietude  shows 
that  the  will  of  the  people,  though  not  always  dominant,  has 
yet  been  respected  and  has  stood  in  the  way  of  unbridled 
license  and  tyranny.  It  was  the  voice  of  the  people  that  com- 
pelled Louis  XVIII.  to  govern  by  a  Constitution,  overthrew 
Charles  X.,  established  Louis  Philippe  as  a  "citizen  king"  and 
finally  drove  him  into  exile,  brought  the  glittering  thraldom  of 
the  Second  Napoleon's  reign  to  an  end,  and  prevented  a  restora- 
tion of  the  bigoted  Bourbon  line.  French  people  do  not  indeed 
assert  themselves  as  the  members  of  a  democracy  always  must 
assert  themselves,  if  they  would  secure  the  largest  freedom 
and  build  up  a  great  and  noble  commonwealth.  But  they 
have  made  it  plain  that  they  will  not  allow  themselves  to  be 
trampled  under  foot,  and  it  may  be  doubted  whether  an  auto- 
cratic rule  like  that  which  now  oppresses  Germany  could  possi- 
bly exist  in  France.^  The  very  frequency  of  revolutions  during 
the  last  hundred  years  has  had  its  salutary  lessons.  For  no 
form  of  government  would  now  dare  to  establish  a  regime  of 
tyranny  and  oppression.  To  do  so  would  merely  hasten  its 
downfall. 

It  may  well  be  questioned,  therefore,  whether  the  Republic 
is  near  its  end.  Surely  the  reactionists  have  little  to  gain  by 
setting  up  a  kingdom  or  an  empire.  Without  the  aid  of  a  man 
of  genius  they  could  not  maintain  such  a  regime  for  a  single 
decade.  Nor  are  the  signs  of  the  dissolution  of  the  Republic 
as  near  as  is  frequently  assumed.  Prophecies  of  its  speedy 
downfall  have  been  rife  ever  since  it  was  founded,  and  it  must 
be  admitted  that  it  is  beset  by  many  dangers.  Official  corrup- 
tion, disloyalty  in  high  circles,  inadequate  parliamentary  repre- 
sentation,- the  dominance  of  militarism,  and  the  indifference  of 
the  French  peasantry  to  self-government,  all  threaten  its  exist- 
ence, and  while  it  lives  it  will  dovibtless  have  a  troubled  and 

1  The  better  side  of  French  political  and  industrial  life  is  well  presented  in 
"  What  the  World  owes  to  France,"  The  Forum,  28:  283.  . 
"^  Fortniyhtly  Review,  68:  536. 


PART  I  THE   THIRD   REPUBLIC  71 

precarious  life.  Yet  it  may  thrive  even  amid  excitement  and 
alarms.  For  turmoil,  change,  and  excitement  seem  to  compose 
the  Frenchman's  native  element.  These  things  appeal  to  the 
excitable  Celtic  mind,  which  loves  anything  better  than  monot- 
ony and  unvarying  routine.  Hence  a  condition  of  affairs  that 
would  portend  ruin  and  catastrophe  in  England  may  be  normal 
and  not  menacing  in  France.  Even  when  Paris  was  most 
excited  over  the  Dreyfus  controversy,  its  populace  was  as  eager 
as  ever  in  the  pursuit  of  pleasure,  and  seemed  to  regard  poli- 
tics chiefly  as  a  means  of  affording  interesting  sensations.  Not 
turbulence,  then,- but  the  strong  man,  is  what  the  Kepublic  has 
to  dread.  A  seemingly  grave  crisis  may  bring  no  real  danger, 
unless  there  appears  with  it  the  hero  who  captivates  the  mind 
of  the  nation.  Not  a  pseudo-hero  like  Boulanger ;  not  a  weak- 
ling, who  presses  the  claims  of  a  worn-out  dynasty.  The 
Republic  is  too  securely  founded  to  be  overturned  by  a  man  of 
straw.  But  the  great  Napoleon's  career  might  to  some  extent 
be  repeated  by  one  who  had  Napoleon's  power  over  men. 


France  has  an  area  of  204,092  square  miles,  and  a  population 
of  not  quite  39,000,000.  The  annual  expenditure  has  now 
reached  the  figure  of  $700,000,000. 

The  Government  is  the  Eepublic  established  by  the  Consti- 
tution adopted  in  1875,  and  revised  in  1884  and  1885.  The 
legislative  power  is  vested  in  a  Senate  and  a  Chamber  of  Depu- 
ties. These  two  Houses  meet  in  joint  session  to  choose  a  Presi- 
dent, whose  term  is  fixed  at  seven  years.  But  he  may  be 
reelected.  He  appoints  and  dismisses  the  Prime  Minister  and 
his  Cabinet ;  promulgates  the  laws  and  sees  that  they  are  exe- 
cuted ;  disposes  of  the  army  and  navy ;  has  the  right  of 
pardoning  individuals ;  and  makes  all  civil  and  military 
appointments.  He  cannot  veto  laws  which  the  Assembly 
passes,  but  can  only  request  a  reconsideration  of  them.  The 
Chamber  of  Deputies  consists  of  584  members :  6  of  these  are 
for  Algeria  and  10  for  the  Colonies.  They  are  chosen  for  a 
term  of  four  years  by  universal  suffrage.  Every  man  can  vote 
who  is  twenty-one  years  old  and  has  resided  for  two  years  in 
any  one  town  or  canton.     But  convicts  and  deserters  are  dis- 


72  THE   LATIN   NATIONS  book  i 


francliised.  A  deputy  must  be  a  citizen  and  must  be  twenty-five 
years  old.  The  Senate  is  composed  of  300  members,  who  are 
elected  for  a  term  of  nine  years.  A  third  of  their  number 
retires  every  three  years.  When  the  Senate  was  originally 
organized  75  of  its  members  were  appointed  for  life.  But  in 
1884  it  was  enacted  that  as  vacancies  occurred  among  these 
life  senatorships  they  should  be  filled  by  election  in  the  ordi- 
nary way.  In  France,  as  in  the  United  States,  the  senators  are 
not  directly  chosen  by  the  people.  In  each  department  they 
are  appointed  by  a  body  composed  of  delegates  from  the  com- 
munes, or  mu.nicipalities,  the  members  of  the  council  general, 
and  the  deputies  of  the  department.  A  senator  must  be  forty 
years  of  age.  Both  senators  and  deputies  are  paid  for  their 
services. 

The  local  administration  of  France  is  largely  in  the  hands 
of  the  central  Government.  The  country  is  divided  into  87 
departments,  including  Belfort,  which  has  the  character  of 
one;  362  arrondissements ;  2871  cantons;  and  36,121  com- 
mvmes.  At  the  head  of  each  department  is  a  prefect  appointed 
by  the  Government,  who  has  large  executive  powers.  In  the 
management  of  local  affairs  he  is  assisted  by  a  council  gen- 
eral chosen  by  universal  suffrage.  Similarly,  there  is  a  sub- 
prefect,  also  appointed  by  the  Government,  in  the  chief  town 
of  each  arrondissement ;  and  he  is  assisted  by  an  arrondisse- 
ment  council,  also  chosen  by  universal  suffrage.  The  canton 
is  the  seat  of  a  justice  of  the  peace,  but  has  no  organized 
government  like  that  of  the  department  and  the  arrondisse- 
ment. Each  commune  is  governed  by  a  mayor  with  the  help  of 
one  or  more  assistants,  according  to  its  size,  and  a  municipal 
council.  The  members  of  the  council  are  elected  by  univer- 
sal suffrage,  and  they  elect  the  mayor  from  their  own  number. 
As  the  mayor  represents  the  central  Government  as  well  as  the 
commune  his  duties  are  sometimes  conflicting.  The  whole 
system  of  local  government  is  so  contrived  as  to  give  enor- 
mous power  to  the  central  authority  of  the  nation.  Through 
the  prefects  and  the  sub-prefects,  the  Government  can  make 
itself  felt  in  every  community  in  the  land,  and  can  largely 
direct  the  management  of  local  affairs. 

The  judicial  system  of  France  is  not  materially  different 
from  that  established  by  Napoleon  in  his  Consulate.     Simplic- 


PART  I  THE   THIRD   REPUBLIC  73 

ity  and  uniformity  are  its  characteristics.  It  recognizes  two 
distinct  classes  of  courts :  (1)  civil  and  criminal ;  (2)  administra- 
tive.    But  apart  from  these  there  are  a  few  special  courts. 

The  civil  and  criminal  courts  consist  of  (1)  the  court  of 
justice  of  the  peace  in  each  canton;  (2)  the  correctional  court 
in  each  arrondissement ;  (3)  twenty-six  courts  of  appeal  in  the 
principal  cities  of  France ;  (4)  the  Court  of  Cassation,  which 
sits  at  Paris,  and  is  the  supreme  court  of  appeal  for  the  whole 
country.  Administrative  courts  try  only  those  cases  in  which 
the  administration  is  interested.  The  cardinal  principle  of 
French  law  is  that  every  case  may  be  heard  in  more  than  one 
court.  Judges  are  appointed  by  the  head  of  the  State,  and  can- 
not be  removed  except  by  the  consent  of  the  Court  of  Cassa- 
tion. In  serious  criminal  cases  a  jury  is  employed  and  decides 
whether  the  accused  is  guilty  by  a  majority  vote.  About 
eighty  per  cent  of  the  population  is  Koman  Catholic,  but  all 
religions  are  equal  before  the  law,  and  every  sect  which  num- 
bers a  hundred  thousand  is  entitled  to  a  grant  from  the  State. 

Education  has  made  great  strides  since  the  Republic  was 
established,  and  the  percentage  of  illiteracy  is  rapidly  diminish- 
ing. The  Government  supervises  all  public  instruction,  includ- 
ing that  of  the  highest  schools  or  universities.  The  public 
schoolmaster  is  a  State  official.  He  is  appointed  by  the 
prefect  of  his  department,  and  on  retiring  is  entitled  to  a  pen- 
sion. Primary  education  is  compulsory  for  all  children 
between  the  ages  of  six  and  fourteen;  and  is  gratuitous. 
For  the  purposes  of  secondary  education  many  schools  and 
colleges  have  been  established  throughout  the  country.  But 
their  courses  are  not  compulsory  or  free.  Higher  education  is 
given  in  the  Faculties,  which  furnish  instruction  in  law,  medi- 
cine, science,  letters,  and  theology.  There  are  sixteen  of  these 
Faculties  in  France  ;  but  the  most  celebrated  is  the  one  at  Paris, 
where  nearly  ten  thousand  students  are  sometimes  enrolled. 

The  most  important  industry  in  France  is  agriculture,  which 
occupies  one-half  of  the  population.  But  France  imports  much 
more  food  than  she  exports ;  and  she  also  depends  on  other 
countries  for  her  raw  materials.  But  her  manufacturing  inter- 
ests are  extensive,  and  her  exports  of  cotton,  woollen,  and  silk 
fabrics,  fancy  goods,  and  leather  articles,  are  considerable. 
She  also  exports  much  wine ;  but  in  some  years  she  imports 


74  THE   LATIN   NATIONS  book  i 

more.  The  yearly  income  of  her  population  is  estimated  to  be 
six  or  seven  billions  of  dollars,  or  a  sum  which  may  be  roughly 
computed  as  equal  to  her  national  debt.  The  total,  capital  of  a 
nation  is  always  estimated  with  difficulty,  on  account  of  the 
constant  fluctuation  in  values,  and  the  unceasing  accumulation 
of  capital.  But  the  capital  of  France  is  probably  not  far  below 
$50,000,000,000. 

Even  with  this  enormous  total  of  wealth,  it  is  difficult  to 
raise  the  annual  income.  The  Government  employs  both 
direct  and  indirect  taxation.  France  has  adopted  the  policy 
of  protection,  and  derives  large  revenues  from  the  tax  on 
imports.  She  also  raises  considerable  sums  by  controlling 
four  monopolies,  viz.  tobacco,  gunpowder,  matches,  posts  and 
telegraphs.  Without  the  returns  from  these  monopolies  the 
task  of  raising  a  sufficient  revenue  would  be  much  more  seri- 
ous and  difficult.  There  are  four  principal  direct  taxes,  which, 
with  some  minor  taxes,  yield  $100,000,000  annually.  They 
are  the  Land  Tax ;  the  Personelle-mobiliere  Tax ;  the  Door  and 
Window  Tax ;  and  the  License  Tax. 

France  maintains  an  army  of  about  525,000  men.  Her  navy 
is  second  only  to  that  of  England. 


CHAPTER  V 

ITALY 

The  Italian  peninsula  has  often  been  the  scene  of  discord 
and  fierce  contention.  Not  easily  have  its  races  blended  to 
form  a  united  people.  For  the  native  temper  is  jealous  and 
stubborn.  Rome  found  it  a  difficult  task  to  subdue  the  various 
tribes  and  to  make  them  entirely  submissive  to  her  rule.  When 
her  grasp  upon  them  was  relinquished,  they  became  a  prey  to 
the  invading  races,  and  unity  disappeared.  But  gradually  the 
native  peoples  asserted  themselves.  They  acquired  a  new  civ- 
ilization more  brilliant  than  the  Roman.  Other  cities  became 
centres  of  learning  and  culture  and  gave  to  the  fine  arts  iinpar- 
alleled  development.  But  they  could  not  unite.  Italy  was 
once  more  divided  into  dissentient  and  conflicting  powers,  as 
she  had  been  before  the  days  of  Roman  supremacy.  Guelfs 
and  Ghibellines  waged  fierce  war  upon  each  other.  Between 
the  great  and  powerful  cities  deadly  feuds  arose.  So  once 
more  did  invaders  come  over  the  Alpine  barrier  and  trample 
Italy  under  foot.  Seeing  her  weakness,  the  Northern  nations 
found  her  a  tempting  prize.  France  began  the  task  of  despoil- 
ing her  in  1492.  Other  nations  joined  in  the  Avork  and  made  it 
but  too  complete.  Italy  passed  almost  entirely  under  foreign 
rule. 

Hence,  the  condition  of  the  Italian  people  toward  the  close 
of  the  eighteenth  century  Avas  a  peculiarly  unhappy  one.  Not 
only  did  they  lack  national  unity  and  constitutional  rights,  but 
they  did  not  really  have  possession  of  their  own  country.  The 
so-called  Republic  of  Venice  still  lingered  on  and  was  not  dis- 
solved until  1797.  And  Savoy,  Piedmont,  and  Sardinia  were 
under  the  ancient  house  of  Savoy,  the  heads  of  which  might 
fairly  be  considered  Italian  princes.  But  the  rest  of  Italy  Avas 
in  alien  hands.     The  States  of  the  Church,  that  large  tract  of 

75 


76  THE   LATIN   NATIONS  book  i 

land  in  the  centre  of  the  peninsula,  was  governed  by  the  Pope, 
who  in  all  things  consulted  first  the  interests  of  the  Church 
rather  than  those  of  Italy.  All  the  territory  to  the  south  of 
the  States  of  the  Church,  together  with  Sicily,  made  the  Two 
Sicilies  and  was  governed  by  a  Spanish  line.  In  the  north  the 
duchy  of  Parma  was  also  under  a  Spanish  prince.  France 
exercised  a  protectorate  over  Genoa  and  Modena.  Austria  had 
control  over  Milan,  and  Tuscany  was  governed  by  an  Austrian 
duke. 

Self-government,  therefore,  was  needed  by  no  people  more 
than  by  the  Italians.  Under  these  alien  rulers  they  could  not 
be  prosperous  or  happy.  The  dukes  of  Tuscany  did  indeed 
give  their  subjects  a  mild  and  beneficent  rule  during  the  latter 
half  of  the  eighteenth  century,  but  they  were  a  shining  excep- 
tion among  the  Italian  princes.  Most  of  these  petty  despots 
took  no  interest  in  the  peoples  they  governed,  and  allowed 
them  no  rights  and  privileges.  Poverty  and  illiteracy  were  the 
peasant's  lot.  He  was  treated  more  like  a  chattel  than  a  human 
being. 

But  Bonaparte's  conquests  in  Italy  inspired  the  Italian 
people  with  hope.  In  1795  and  1796  the  Austrians  were 
thoroughly  vanquished  by  the  French,  and  the  alien  princes 
were  unseated,  yenice  now  lost  her  ancient  institutions  and 
was  surrendered  to  Austria.  The  King  of  Sardinia  retired  from 
his  dominions,  and  Pope  Pius  VI.  fled  to  France.  Republics 
were  set  up  in  place  of  the  former  tyrannies.  Bonaparte's 
expedition  to  Egypt  in  1798  resulted  in  a  temporary  loss  of 
supremacy.  The  generals  he  had  left  in  Italy  could  not  hold 
their  own  when  deprived  of  his  leadership,  but  his  reappear- 
ance on  the  scene  in  1800  soon  restored  his  sway  over  the  whole 
peninsula.  It  was  not,  however,  to  give  the  Italians  self-gov- 
ernment that  he  returned.  He  swept  away  old  abuses,  and 
gave  the  country  a  far  more  enlightened  rule  than  it  had 
known  under  its  despotic  princes.  But  he  made  Italy  contrib- 
ute to  his  own  power  and  advancement.  Out  of  its  northern 
portion  he  formed  a  kingdom  for  himself,  after  becoming 
Emperor ;  and  Naples  he  made  subject  to  his  brother  Joseph, 
and  afterwards  to  his  marshal,  Murat,  who  had  married  his 
sister  Caroline.  He  finally  annexed  the  States  of  the  Church, 
deposing  Pius  VII.  as  summarily  as  he  had  dealt  with  Pius  VI. 


PART  I  ITALY  77 

And  sucli  portions  of  the  peninsula  as  still  remained  he  used  as 
prizes  for  his  generals  and  relatives. 

Naturally  these  arrangements  could  not  outlast  Napoleon's 
own  tenure  of  power.  The  Congress  of  Vienna  nuide  short 
work  with  them  and  reestablished  the  old  despotisms.  Venice 
and  Milan  were  restored  to  Austria;  and  Austrian  princes 
were  placed  over  Tuscany  and  Modena.  The  Spanish-Bourbon 
line,  represented  by  Ferdinand  I.,  resumed  its  sway  over 
Naples  ;  and  Parma  also  was  given  back  to  the  Bourbons  in  the 
end,  though  Maria  Louisa,  Napoleon's  wife,  ruled  it  through 
her  lifetime.  Piedmont  and  Sardinia  were  restored  to  Victor 
Emmanuel  I.,  of  the  House  of  Savoy,  and  Genoa  was  added  to 
his  possessions ;  and  Pius  VII.  was  reinstated  over  the  States 
of  the  Church.  Thus  Italy  was  no  better  off  than  she  had 
been  before  Napoleon's  changes.  Her  rulers  governed  without 
Constitutions.  Unity  and  liberty  seemed  far  away.  But  the 
governments  established  by  Napoleon  had  brought  the  day  of 
deliverance  nearer.  They  had  been  short-lived,  but  they  had 
given  the  Italians  glimpses  of  independence,  of  free  institu- 
tions, and  of  national  greatness,  that  were  not  forgotten. 

It  was  over  no  willing  subjects,  then,  that  the  alien  princes 
assumed  their  despotic  sway.  And  despotic  enough  that  sway 
proved  in  most  instances.  Of  the  Austrian  and  Bourbon 
princes  only  the  Duke  of  Tuscany  showed  any  liberal  sym- 
pathies. In  the  States  of  the  Church  it  was  even  attempted 
to  restore  the  Inquisition.  And  so  the  Italians  organized  in 
secret  to  accomplish  the  work  of  liberation.  Secret  societies 
spread  throughout  the  country.  The  league  of  the  Carbonari 
(charcoal  burners),  which  had  long  been  in  existence,  now 
numbered  sixty  thousand  members.  Everywhere  the  lovers  of 
liberty  worked  and  watched  and  waited.  They  were  ready  to 
strike  at  the  smallest  prompting. 

In  1820  the  prompting  came,  for  the  revolution  in  Spain 
that  occurred  in  that  year  occasioned  a  ferment  in  Italy.  On 
July  2  a  lieutenant  in  a  cavalry  regiment  serving  under  the 
King  of  Naples  incited  his  soldiers  to  imitate  the  Spaniards 
and  refuse  to  be  subjects  of  a  tyrant  any  longer.  His  soldiers 
took  fire  at  his  words  and  raised  the  banner  of  revolt.  Their 
spirit  was  contagious.  The  movement  rapidly  spread.  King 
Ferdinand  was  overawed,  and  granted  the  Spanish  Constitution 


78  THE   LATIN   NATIONS  book  i 

which  the  Carbonari  demanded.  He  even  took  a  solemn  oath 
to  maintain  it,  in  the  presence  of  a  large  gathering  of  the 
people. 

But  his  word  proved  utterly  worthless.  Metternich  was 
alarmed  at  the  strength  of  the  revolutionary  movement.  He 
feared  it  would  sweep  through  Italy  and  even  into  other  coun- 
tries, and  he  persuaded  the  Holy  Alliance  to  suppress  it.  In 
1821  Austrian  troops  Avere  sent  to  restore  Ferdinand  to  all  his 
rights.  Prussian  troops  were  to  reenforce  them  if  necessary. 
The  leaders  of  the  revolution  at  Naples  made  only  a  feeble 
stand  against  this  invasion  of  foreign  forces.  Unfortunately 
they  had  despatched  the  best  of  their  troops  to  quell  an  u]n-is- 
ing  in  Sicily,  which  had  not  only  revolted  against  Ferdinand's 
government,  but  had  endeavored  to  acquire  complete  indepen- 
dence and  sever  its  connection  with  Naples  altogether.  So, 
thus  weakened,  the  revolutionary  party  was  easily  dispersed. 
Ferdinand,  strengthened  by  foreign  bayonets,  broke  his  oath, 
withdrew  the  Constitution  he  had  granted,  and  reigned  more 
despotically  than  ever.  The  press  was  placed  under  the  strict- 
est censorship;  the  schools  were  closed;  the  Carbonari  were 
made  the  object  of  a  relentless  persecution. 

Turin,  the  capital  of  the  kingdom  of  Piedmont,  was  also  the 
centre  of  a  revolution.  But  here  also  the  movement  was  sig- 
nally defeated.  The  insurgents  expected  Milan  to  join  in  the 
revolt,  and  to  form  North  Italy  into  a  united  kingdom.  Their 
king  should  have  headed  the  movement,  which  was  aimed,  not 
merely  to  secure  constitutional  rights,  but  to  rid  the  country 
of  Austrian  rule.  But  Victor  Emmanuel  was  himself  a  petty 
tyrant ;  and  his  brother  Charles  Felix,  in  whose  favor  he  abdi- 
cated when  the  revolution  became  formidable,  was  a  man  of 
greater  decision  but  equal  intolerance.  But  in  Charles  Albert, 
a  kindred  prince  of  the  House  of  Savoy,  the  revolutionists 
thought  they  had  found  a  leader.  This  young  man  loved 
liberty  and  hated  Austria;  at  the  critical  moment,  however, 
he  proved  faint-hearted  and  untrustworthy.  The  revolution 
came  to  be  little  better  than  a  farce,  and  the  few  insurgents 
who  finally  took  the  field  were  easily  scattered.  The  principles 
of  Metternich  were  triumphant  in  Piedmont  as  well  as  in 
Naples.  The  friends  of  liberty  must  again  submit  to  watch 
and  wait. 


PART    I 


ITALY  79 


For  ten  years  they  waited,  though  they  never  ceased  to  labor 
in  secret.  The  members  of  tlie  Carbonari  continually  increased 
in  numbers,  and  their  influence  was  felt  in  every  corner  of 
Italy.  In  1830  came  the  July  Revolution  in  France  which 
unseated  Charles  X.,  and  once  more  the  Italians  rose  for  politi- 
cal freedom.  This  time  the  States  of  the  Church  and  the 
duchies  of  Parma  and  Modena  were  the  seats  of  revolutionary 
activity.  In  each  of  these  districts  an  insurrection  of  formida- 
ble character  broke  out.  In  the  States  of  the  Church  the  death 
of  Pope  Pius  VIII.  in  1830  occasioned  the  uprising ;  for  a  dis- 
contented people  naturally  strikes  for  freedom  when  left  with- 
out a  ruler.  But  once  more  the  hopes  of  Italy  were  blighted 
by  Austrian  interference.  Austrian  troops  were  sent  into  the 
disaffected  states.  The  uprisings  were  easily  put  down,  and 
their  leaders  were  in  some  instances  summarily  dealt  Avith. 
The  Duke  of  Modena  showed  a  peculiarly  hard  and  resentful 
temper.  Of  the  principal  conspirators  in  his  domain  two  were 
executed,  while  others  were  condemned  to  the  galleys  or  thrown 
into  prison. 

After  these  discouraging  failures  the  conspirators  were  more 
quiet  for  a  time,  yet  they  never  lost  their  enthusiasm  or  their 
faith  in  their  cause.  They  had  gifted  leaders  who  appealed 
to  the  liberal  sentiment  of  Europe  in  Italy's  behalf.  One  of 
the  most  distinguished  of  Italian  patriots  was  Giuseppe  Maz: 
zini.  A  leading  member  of  the  Carbonari,  he  was  betrayed  in 
1830,  and  withdrew  to  France.  There  he  wrote  much,  kept  in 
close  communication  with  his  fellow-patriots,  and  organized  the 
society  of  Young  Italy,  which  became  famous  all  over  Europe. 
Its  objects  were  the  freedom  and  unity  of  Italy  ;  its  means  of 
obtaining  them  were  education  and  insurrection.  In  1832  the 
French  Government  denied  Mazzini  an  asylum  within  its  terri- 
tory, and  he  took  refuge  in  Switzerland.  In  1834  he  organized 
an  invasion  of  the  kingdom  of  Savoy;  but  this  attempt  at 
insurrection  ended  in  utter  failure.  IVIazzini  and  his  fellow- 
conspirators  were  scattered  by  the  first  fire  of  the  troops  sent 
out  to  oppose  them.  Required  to  leave  Switzerland  in  1837, 
he  found  a  home  in  London,  where  he  remained  for  many 
years,  calling  attention  to  his  country's  wrongs  and  inciting 
his  countrymen  to  rebellion.  I)ut  the  stirring  events  of  1848 
drew  him  back  to  Italy.     Visionary  and  romantic,  he  found  his 


80  THE   LATIN   NATIONS  book  i 


calling  in  rousing  enthusiasm  and  in  making  the  cause  of  Italy- 
known  throughout  Europe.  Yet  he  took  an  active  part  in  some 
of  the  revolutionary  uprisings,  and  showed  unusual  executive 
ability. 

Quite  a  different  character  was  Giuseppe  Garibaldi,  born  at 
Nice  in  1807.  If  Mazzini's  best  weapon  was  the  pen,  his  was 
unquestionably  the  sword.  In  foresight,  cool  deliberation,  and 
broad  statesmanship  he  was  lacking;  but  his  burning  patri- 
otism, his  energy,  his  unequalled  dash  and  daring,  made  him  a 
splendid  revolutionary  leader.  He  hated  tyranny  and  he  loved 
to  assail  it,  sword  in  hand,  wheresoever  opportunity  offered. 
In  1834  he  joined  the  Young  Italy  movement,  and  was  con- 
demned to  death  for  taking  part  in  an  attempt  to  capture 
Genoa.  Escaping,  he  made  his  way  to  South  America,  and 
there  for  some  years  he  gave  his  services  to  the  province  of 
Rio  Grande,  which  Avas  in  rebellion  against  the  Emperor  of 
Brazil.  In  1848  he  returned  to  his  own  country,  and  from  that 
time  on  was  closely  identified  with  the  Italian  patriots  in  their 
struggle  for  independence.  His  bands  of  "red  shirts"  became 
famous,  and  he  led  them  to  many  a  victory.  Unquestionably 
his  daring  and  his  irrepressible  energy  hastened  the  day  of 
Italian  freedom. 

These  two  patriots  were  especially  distinguished,  but  in  their 
zeal  and  their  single-hearted  devotion  they  were  but  typical  of 
the  Italian  temper.  There  were  thousands  equally  ready  to 
do  and  die  for  their  country,  and  they  kept  Italy  in  a  perpet- 
ual state  of  unrest.  The  whole  soil  was  undermined  with  in- 
trigue. The  petty  despots  sat  on  tottering  thrones.  The  fires 
of  insurrection  were  always  smouldering;  a  breath  of  encour- 
agement might  at  any  moment  bring  them  to  a  flame. 

In  1846  such  encouragement  came  from  a  most  unexpected 
quarter.  Pius  IX.  succeeded  in  that  year  to  the  papal  throne 
and  showed  himself  a  reformer.  He  mitigated  the  almost  in- 
tolerable rule  of  his  predecessor,  Gregory  XVI.,  granted  an 
amnesty  to  political  offenders,  and  set  about  framing  a  Consti- 
tution. Joy  reigned  throughout  Italy.  The  cry  for  Consti- 
tutions echoed  through  the  land  and  could  not  be  resisted. 
Constitutions  were  granted  in  Tuscany  and  Piedmont  in  1847. 
The  duchy  of  Lucca  now  came  to  an  end ;  for  its  duke  aban- 
doned his  possessions,  and  they  were  annexed  by  Tuscany.     In 


PART  I  ITALY  81 

February,  1848,  occurred  the  outbreak  in  Paris  against  Louis 
Philippe,  and  Italy  at  once  took  fire.  Sicily  was  already  in 
insurrection.  Naples  also  revolted,  and  King  Ferdinand  II. 
promised  a  liberal  Constitution.  Milan  and  Venice  rose  against 
Austria.  The  duchies  of  Parma  and  Modena  were  abandoned 
by  their  rulers,  and  provisional  governments  were  established 
in  them.  The  Duke  of  Tuscany  also  eventually  abandoned  his 
duchy  through  fear  of  the  revolutionary  movement.  In  Rome 
the  moderate  reform  movement  inaugurated  by  Pius  IX.  did 
not  satisfy  the  radicals.  Rossi,  the  liberal  minister  whom  the 
Pope  had  chosen  to  carry  out  his  plans,  was  assassinated.  The 
Pope  himself  fled  in  disguise  from  his  domains.  A  Republic 
was  proclaimed,  and  the  temporal  sovereignty  of  the  Church 
was  for  the  time  being  brought  to  an  end.  Mazzini  and  his 
associates  assumed  control  of  the  city. 

Thus  there  was  everywhere  insurrection,  and  the  hopes  of 
Italy  were  high.  But  the  revolution  needed  a  leader.  Charles 
Albert,  who  in  1831  had  succeeded  Charles  Felix  as  King  of 
Sardinia  and  Piedmont,  seemed  to  be  the  only  ruler  Avho  could 
inspire  the  confidence  of  the  patriots.  His  liberal  sympathies 
were  well  known,  and  he  now  became  the  centre  of  the  revolu- 
tionary movement.  But  the  same  weaknesses  which  caused  him 
to  fail  in  1831  again  betrayed  themselves.  He  was  personally 
brave,  but  he  lacked  energy  and  decision.  He  inspired  no 
enthusiasm.  His  movements  were  not  ably  planned  or  vigor- 
ously executed.  Accordingly,  almost  from  the  first  he  played 
a  losing  game.  The  Piedmontese  forces  were  by  no  means  con- 
temptible. Well  led,  they  might  have  proved  formidable  op- 
ponents to  the  Austrians,  whose  domains  in  North  Italy  Charles 
Albert  invaded.  But  under  the  King's  feeble  generalship  the 
Sardinians  gained  only  one  or  two  trifling  successes.  In  1848 
they  won  the  victories  of  Pastrengo  and  Goito,  but  soon  after 
they  were  disastrously  defeated  at  Custozza.  The  Austrians 
were  under  the  command  of  General  Radetsky,  and  this  aged 
soldier,  who  had  fought  against  Napoleon,  had  lost  none  of  his 
vigor  and  energy  at  the  age  of  eighty-two.  He  drove  Charles 
Albert  out  of  Milan,  which  the  Sardinians  had  occupied;  and 
on  August  9, 1848,  Charles  Albert  signed  an  armistice.  But 
he  could  not  quietly  endure  the  mortification  of  these  reverses. 
In  March,  1849,  he  set  aside  the  armistice  and  again  took  the 
o 


82  THE   LATIN   NATIONS  book  i 

field.  Uut  before  lie  could  invade  the  enemy's  country,  Radet- 
sky  led  his  forces  into  Sardinian  territory,  and  on  March  23 
inflicted  upon  Charles  Albert  the  severe  defeat  of  Novara,  which 
put  an  end  to  the  war.  Weary  and  heart-broken,  the  Sardinian 
King  abdicated  in  favor  of  his  son,  Victor  Emmanuel  II.,  and  de- 
parted from  the  country  he  had  failed  to  liberate.  Only  four 
months  later  he  died  in  Portugal. 

The  failure  of  Sardinia  meant  the  failure  of  the  revolution 
all  over  Italy.  The  insurgents  had  hoped  that  their  divided 
efforts  would  end  in  a  united  movement  under  a  victorious  king, 
but  the  states  were  not  equal  to  fighting  their  battles  against 
despotism  single-handed.  Ferdinand  II.  subdued  his  rebellious 
subjects  both  in  Naples  and  in  Sicily.  The  Dukes  of  Tuscany, 
Parma,  and  Modena  were  reinstated  over  their  duchies  by  Aus- 
trian troops.  At  Rome  Garibaldi  and  Mazzini  made  a  desper- 
ate defence  against  great  odds ;  but  Louis  Napoleon  espoused 
the  cause  of  the  Pope  and  sent  a  considerable  force  of  soldiers 
to  regain  for  him  his  temporal  sovereignty.  Spain  and  Naples 
also  helped  to  suppress  the  insurgents.  Rome  was  obliged  to 
capitulate,  and  Mazzini  and  Garibaldi  fled.  Venice,  under  Dan- 
iel Manin,  still  resisted  after  the  insurrection  was  everywhere 
else  suppressed.  But  on  August  24, 1849,  the  city  surrendered, 
and  Manin  Avent  into  exile.  He  never  saw  Italy  again,  as  he 
died  in  Paris  in  1857,  before  the  day  of  Italian  freedom  had 
dawned.  But  his  heroic  exertions  in  the  defence  of  Venice 
entitle  him  to  a  conspicuous  place  among  the  patriots  of  his 
country. 

The  Revolution  of  1848  and  1849  had  apparently  accom- 
plished nothing.  Except  in  the  kingdom  of  Sardinia  despot- 
ism now  reigned  from  the  Alps  to  Sicily.  Yet  out  of  defeat 
was  born  the  hope  of  ultimate  victory.  The  House  of  Savoy 
was  still  the  centre  of  the  movement  for  freedom  and  unity ; 
and  its  new  King  proved  worthy  to  lead  the  patriot  cause. 
Victor  Emmanuel  II.  was  a  man  of  strong  and  noble  character. 
He  had  the  force,  the  balanced  judgment,  and  the  steadiness  of 
purpose  which  his  father,  Charles  Albert;  had  lacked.  More- 
over, he  had  the  services  of  a  statesman  greater  than  himself, 
who  was  destined  to  accomplish  by  diplomacy  what  revolution 
had  failed  to  secure.  Count  Camillo  Benso  di  Cavour  was  born 
at  Turin  in  1810,  of  an  ancient  family,  and  showed  at  an  early 


PART  I  ITALY  83 

age  remarkable  ability.  But  for  many  years  he  found  no  field 
for  the  exercise  of  his  powers  except  in  improving  agriculture 
on  his  own  estates ;  for  he  did  not  believe  that  Italy  could  be 
liberated  by  spasmodic  revolutionary  outbreaks,  and  he  would 
not  join  in  the  uprisings  of  1831  and  1848.  But  when  Victor 
Emmanuel  II.  became  King  of  Sardinia,  Cavour  was  appointed 
to  a  place  in  the  Sardinian  Cabinet ;  and  in  1852  he  was  made 
Prime  Minister.  With  rare  skill  and  foresight  he  formed  a 
policy  which  ultimately  freed  Italy  from  foreign  rule  and  made 
it  a  united  nation.  He  was  sure  that  her  deliverance  could  be 
gained  only  through  the  intervention  of  a  foreign  power ;  and 
he  waited  for  an  opportunity  to  win  for  Italy  the  support  of 
some  of  the  great  European  nations.  An  opportunity  seemed 
to  offer  when  the  Crimean  War  broke  out  in  1854.  Through 
the  efforts  of  Cavour  an  Italian  army  was  sent  to  the  Crimea 
with  the  forces  of  France  and  England,  and  in  the  bloody  battle 
of  Tchernaya^  it  won  the  gratitude  of  the  allies  by  its  conspicu- 
ous gallantry.  As  Italy  had  taken  part  in  the  war  she  was 
entitled  to  a  voice  in  the  deliberations  that  were  held  at  its 
conclusion.  Cavour  himself  attended  the  Congress  of  Paris, 
and  before  its  sittings  were  over  he  forced  the  interests  of 
Italy  upon  its  notice.  He  declared  that  the  peace  of  Europe 
could  not  be  securely  established  until  Italy  was  made  a  imited 
nation  ;  and  he  demanded  that  the  despotic  governments  in 
Italy  be  made  to  grant  lilieral  Constitutions.  These  demands 
were  not  enforced,  and  Cavour  did  not  expect  them  to  be. 
But  they  made  an  impression  upon  the  Congress.  Italy  had 
attracted  the  attention  and  the  sympathy  of  enlightened  Eu- 
rope. The  country  that  had  done  such  great  things  for  civili- 
zation could  not  much  longer  remain  under  the  rule  of  foreign 
despots. 

But  four  years  were  to  pass  ere  Cavour's  hope  of  foreign 
intervention  was  realized.  Meanwhile  King  Victor  Emmanuel 
and  his  Prime  Minister  continued  to  give  Sardinia  the  benefit 
of  an  enlightened  rule.  Indeed,  the  internal  reforms  accom- 
plished by  Cavour,  with  the  King's  assistance,  were  one  of  the 

1  The  battle  of  Tcherii.aya  was  fought  on  August  10, 1855,  on  which  date  the 
allied  armies  were  attacked  by  50,()()0  Russians,  who  endeavored  to  break 
through  the  lines  of  the  allies  and  relieve  Sebastopol.  They  were  driven  back 
with  great  slaughter.  Alxmt  1200  of  the  allies  were  killed  and  wounded ;  bnt 
of  these  1200,  200  were  Italians. 


84  THE   LATIN   NATIONS  book  i 

most  creditable  features  of  his  statesmanship.  During  the 
years  from  1852  to  1859,  while  he  was  waiting  for  foreign 
assistance,  he  brought  Sardinia  abreast  of  the  advanced  nations 
of  Europe.  He  adopted  a  moderate  free  trade  policy,  estab- 
lished a  more  equitable  system  of  taxation,  and  cultivated  the 
friendship  of  the  Church  without  admitting  all  its  claims.  He 
believed  that  the  Church  a:id  the  State  should  each  have  entire 
freedom  within  its  own  domain,  and  this  view  he  maintained 
with  unflinching  courage,  but  with  unfailing  tact  and  skill.  A 
free  Church  in  a  free  State  was  his  motto.  Nor  did  he  lose 
the  interest  that  he  had  taken  in  agriculture  before  his  public 
life  began.  In  every  possible  way  he  strove  to  make  the 
peasant  population  thrifty  and  prosperous. 

But  in  1859  the  long-expected  war  note  was  sounded,  and 
domestic  interests  were  set  aside  by  the  all-absorbing  struggle 
for  freedom.  Louis  Napoleon  undertook  to  liberate  North 
Italy  from  Austria,  and  Sardinia  eagerly  seconded  his  efforts. 
To  the  imposing  array  of  the  French,  Victor  Emmanuel  added 
his  own  comparatively  meagre  army.  The  French  met  the 
Austrians  at  ^lagenta  on  June  4,  and  the  allied  forces  encoun- 
tered them  at  Solferino  on  June  24.  In  both  battles  the 
French  were  successful,  though  rather  through  gallantry  than 
through  superior  strategy.  Napoleon  himself  did  not  under- 
stand the  art  of  war,  and  his  marshals  were  not  first-rate 
generals.  But,  fortunately,  the  Austrian  generals  were  still 
more  inefficient ;  their  forces  were  driven  from  the  field,  and 
were  obliged  to  leave  Lombardy  in  possession  of  the  allied 
armies.  Flushed  with  victory,  the  Sardinians  were  eager  to 
push  on  and  wrest  Venetia  also  from  Austria's  grasp.  But  to 
their  surprise  and  consternation,  Louis  Napoleon  concluded  a 
treaty  of  peace  with  the  Emperor  of  Austria  without  consult- 
ing their  wishes.  The  French  Emperor  had  indeed  declared 
the  intention  of  freeing  Italy  from  the  Alps  to  the  Adriatic, 
but  he  now  abandoned  his  original  purpose.  He  had  reason  to 
believe  that  Prussia  would  attack  France  by  way  of  the  Rhine 
if  he  attempted  to  humiliate  Austria  still  further.  Moreover, 
he  was  conscious  of  his  own  lack  of  military  skill.^     So  he 

1  Napoleon's  reasons  for  abandonin_^  the  campaign  after  the  battle  of  Sol- 
ferino are  well  stated  by  De  la  Gorce  in  his  "  Histoire  du  Second  Empire,"' 
III.  103,  104. 


PART  I  ITALY  85 

allowed  Austria  to  keep  Venetia,  and  he  exacted  Savoy  and 
Nice  from  Sardinia  as  a  reward  for  his  own  services  to  Italy. 

Deep  was  the  indignation  excited  by  Napoleon's  conduct. 
The  Italians  felt  that  they  had  been  betrayed,  and  even  Cavour 
was  carried  away  by  his  feelings.  Rather  than  acquiesce  in 
so  disappointing  a  treaty  he  resigned  his  premiership.  For- 
tunately Victor  Emmanuel  read  the  issues  of  the  hour  more 
clearly.  He  recognized  the  folly  of  losing  everything  through 
trying  to  gain  too  much.  He  therefore  assented  to  the  French 
Emperor's  terms,  added  Lombardy  to  his  own  domains,  and 
gave  up  Savoy  and  Nice.  To  Garibaldi  the  loss  of  the  latter 
city  was  particularly  bitter.  Nice  was  his  birthplace,  and  as 
it  now  became  a  French  city,  he  felt  as  it  were  expatriated. 

In  spite  of  their  resentment  the  Sardinians  had  gained  much. 
They  had  acquired  a  considerable  territory  north  of  the  Po. 
They  had  broken  the  power  of  Austria  in  North  Italy.  They 
had  added  the  duchies  of  Parma,  Tuscany,  and  Modena  to  their 
domains.  For  the  peoples  of  these  duchies,  abandoned  by  their 
princes  when  the  storm  of  war  first  broke,  voluntarily  attached 
themselves  to  the  kingdom  of  Sardinia.  Thus  the  cause  of 
constitutionalism  was  growing;  the  House  of  Savoy  was 
becoming  stronger ;  the  day  of  alien  rule  was  drawing  to  its 
close. 

In  1861  a  further  blow  for  independence  and  national  unity 
was  struck,  and  it  was  aimed  at  the  crudest  despotism  of  Italy. 
King  Ferdinand  II.  of  Naples,  who  came  to  the  throne  in  1830, 
made  his  name  famous  all  over  Europe  by  the  merciless  sever- 
ity of  his  rule.  His  subjects  named  him  King  Bomba,  be- 
cause he  bombarded  rebellious  cities  into  submission.  Political 
offenders  he  dealt  with  in  the  most  summary  manner,  for  he 
was  determined  to  keep  revolutionary  agitation  out  of  his 
territory.  So  he  condemned  men  on  mere  suspicion  as  arbi- 
trarily as  an  Oriental  despot.  Mr.  Gladstone  visited  Naples 
in  1851,  and  found  its  prisons  full  of  men  whose  offences  were 
purely  imaginary,  and  who  were  treated  with  extreme  harsh- 
ness. He  estimated  that  there  were  twelve  thousand  political 
prisoners  in  Naples,  and  his  published  letter  upon  their  condi- 
tion created  a  commotion  in  Europe.  King  Bomba  died  in 
1859,  but  under  his  weak  and  incapable  son,  Francis  II.,  abso- 
lutism still  flourished.     Only  force  could  overthrow  it.     The 


86  THE   LATIN   NATIONS  book  i 

Bourbon  line  that    reigned  over   Naples   and   Sicily  did  not 
know  the  meaning  of  progress. 

But  force  was  soon  brought  to  bear.  The  liberation  of 
Lombardy  filled  the  oppressed  population  of  South  Italy  with 
hope.  In  April,  1860,  the  people  of  Palermo  and  Messina  rose 
in  rebellion.  They  were  put  down,  but  their  movement  at- 
tracted attention  and  brought  them  assistance.  On  May  6 
Garibaldi  sailed  from  Genoa  with  over  a  thousand  volunteers 
to  assail  the  Bourbon  tyranny.  Arriving  at  Sicily,  he  easily 
found  fresh  recruits,  and  his  forces  were  soon  swelled  to  four 
thousand.  Palermo  and  Messina  fell  into  his  hands.  Sicily 
was  free ;  it  remained  to  deliver  Naples  also.  Crossing  into 
Italy,  he  rapidly  pushed  his  way  to  King  Francis's  capital. 
Everywhere  he  was  hailed  as  a  conqueror.  The  Neapolitan 
garrisons  surrendered  to  him.  Nothing  barred  his  triumphal 
progress.  Even  the  King  fled  before  him,  and  in  three  weeks 
he  was  in  Naples. 

At  the  beginning  of  Garibaldi's  expedition  the  position  of 
the  Sardinian  Government  was  a  trying  one.    Victor  Emmanuel 
and  Cavour  (whose  retirement  from  office  had  been  brief)  could 
not  give  it  open  encouragement,  for  it  was  directed  against  a 
friendly  power.     Yet  they  could  not  thwart  or  hinder  it  with- 
out offending  the  whole  body  of  Italian  patriots.     Great  was 
their  relief,  therefore,  when  the  expedition  proved  completely 
successful.     As  soon  as  the  overthrow  of  the  Neapolitan  Gov- 
ernment seemed  certain,  Victor  Emmanuel  put  himself  at  the 
head  of  the  movement  and  assumed  the  direction  of  it.     At 
.  the  head  of  his  army  he  hastened  to  the  scene  of  action.    Gari- 
baldi loyally  recognized  his  sovereign's  authority,  gave  every- 
thing into  his  hands,  and  retired  to  his  home  on  the  island  of 
Caprera.    With  a  considerable  army  to  support  him,  Victor  Em- 
manuel at  once  assumed  the  aggressive.     The  forces  of  King 
Erancis  were  ranged  beyond  the  Volturno  River.     Victor  Em- 
manuel drove  them  before  him  and  forced  King  Francis  to  take 
refuge  in  the  fortress  of  Gaeta.     In  that  stronghold  the  fallen 
King  held  out  bravely  for  three  months.     But  provisions  and 
ammunitions  failed  him,  and  fever  assailed  his  garrison.     On 
February  13,  1861,  he  capitulated.     The  kingdom  of  Naples 
and  Sicily  was  at  an  end. 

Thus   all   Italy,  excepting   Venetia  and   the  States  of   the 


PART    I 


ITALY  87 


Church,  had  passed  under  the  rule  of  Victor  Emmanuel.  A 
National  Parliament  was  therefore  assembled  at  Turin  in 
February,  18G1,  and  by  its  consent  Victor  Emmanuel  took  the 
title  "  King  of  Italy."  That  the  whole  peninsula  would  in  time 
be  united  into  one  kingdom  now  seemed  certain.  The  logic 
of  events  pointed  strongly  to  this  consummation  of  the  long 
struggle  for  freedom.  But  meanwhile  there  was  crying  need 
of  efficient  and  progressive  administration  in  the  states  already 
wrested  from  despotic  rule.  For  as  yet  unity  and  nationality 
existed  chiefly  in  name.  The  Italians  needed  to  grow  one  in 
their  ideas  of  law,  of  democratic  government,  of  education, 
and  of  civilization  in  all  its  highest  phases.  Only  a  most 
enlightened  conduct  of  affairs  could  effect  so  radical  a  change ; 
and  to  just  this  end  Cavour  now  devoted  all  his  energies.  His 
abilities  were  equal  to  the  task ;  his  strength  was  not.  Even 
while  he  was  planning  extensive  reforms  in  finance,  education, 
local  administration,  and  all  departments  of  government,  he 
was  suddenly  attacked  by  an  illness  that  proved  fatal.  He 
died  on  June  G,  ISGl,  in  the  fifty-first  year  of  his  age.  All  Italy 
mourned  his  death,  and  Victor  Emmanuel  felt  that  he  had  met 
with  an  irreparable  loss.  Cavour  was  one  of  the  greatest  states- 
men of  the  century,  and  to  him  more  than  to  any  one  person 
must  belong  the  glory  of  accomplishing  the  unity  of  Italy. 
Yet  the  share  which  others  took  in  this  great  achievement 
should  not  be  forgotten.  Had  Victor  Emmanuel  been  as  Aveak 
and  impractical  as  his  father,  Charles  Albert,  Cavour's  task 
would  have  been  wellnigh  hopeless.  There  would  have  been 
no  central  fignre  to  give  direction  to  the  movement  for  unity. 
Nor  are  the  efforts  of  Mazzini  and  Garibaldi  to  be  lightly 
valued.  Mazzini  forced  all  Europe  to  note  the  wrongs  of  his 
country ;  and  Garibaldi's  heroic  enterprise  hastened  the  inevi- 
table downfall  of  the  Neapolitan  tyranny. 

Cavour  was  succeeded  l)y  r>aron  l^ettino  Kicasoli,  a  states- 
man of  Tuscany,  who  had  done  much  to  bring  that  duchy  under 
Victor  Emmanuel's  rule,  and  who  possessed  great  strength  of 
mind  and  character.  His  administration  was  marked  by  energy 
and  wise  dijjlomacy,  but  was  soon  undermined  by  Rattazzi,  a 
man  of  inferior  ability  and  far  less  steadiness  of  piu-pose.  E,at- 
tazzi  was  now  elevated  to  power,  but  very  soon  there  came  a 
situation  which  demonstrated  his  lack  of  far-seeing  statesman- 


88  THE   LATIN   NATIONS  book  i 

ship.  Garibaldi  could  not  keep  quiet  on  his  island  of  Caprera. 
In  1862  he  organized  an  expedition  against  Rome  with  a  view 
to  adding  the  States  of  the  Church  to  Victor  Emmanuel's  posses- 
sions. Rattazzi  should  have  foreseen  that  the  movement  would 
give  offence  to  Napoleon,  and  should  have  thwarted  it  in  its 
very  beginning.  For  Napoleon,  to  the  end  of  his  reign,  main- 
tained the  temporal  sovereignty  of  the  Pope.  But  Rattazzi 
adopted  the  policy  of  non-interference.  The  expedition  was 
allowed  to  start  forth ;  but  no  sooner  had  it  done  so  than  the 
Sardinian  Government  was  peremptorily  required  by  Napoleon 
to  render  it  powerless.  Rattazzi  was  obliged  to  comply  with 
this  demand.  The  red  shirts  were  captured  at  Aspromonte 
by  their  own  countrymen.  Garibaldi  himself  was  severely 
wounded,  and  after  his  recovery  retired  once  more  to  the 
island  of  Caprera.  Naturally,  he  considered  himself  ill-used, 
and  Italy  agreed  with  him.  Rattazzi  was  censured  for  his 
irresolute  conduct  and  forced  to  resign. 

In  1867  Garibaldi  made  another  expedition  against  Rome, 
only  to  be  balked  again  by  French  interference.  But  his 
effort,  futile  though  it  was  in  regard  to  the  main  end  in  view, 
had  the  happy  effect  of  freeing  Rome  from  foreign  soldiery. 
Napoleon,  partly  in  compliance  with  a  request  made  by  Queen 
Victoria,  now  withdrew  the  troops  that  he  had  kept  at  Rome 
to  protect  the  Pope  against  popular  uprisings.  But  he  made 
it  plain  that  any  attempt  to  despoil  the  Pope  of  his  posses- 
sions would  cause  the  speedy  reappearance  of  a  French  army. 

Against  the  determined  opposition  of  so  powerful  a  mon- 
arch, further  revolutionary  outbreaks  seemed  hopeless.  But 
already  the  day  had  begun  to  dawn  when  revolution  would  be 
no  longer  necessary.  The  victorious  career  of  Prussia  was 
destined  to  accomplish  what  Garibaldi  failed  to  achieve  by 
petty  onslaught.  Venetia  had  been  won  before  he  raised  the 
banner  of  insurrection  in  1867.  For  in  the  preceding  year  the 
combined  efforts  of  Italy  and  Prussia  had  humbled  Austria 
and  compelled  her  to  retire  from  Italian  soil.  True,  Italy's 
part  in  the  grand  war  drama  was  not  well  played.  Through 
the  wretched  management  of  their  general,  Victor  Emmanuel's 
forces  were  beaten  at  Custozza,  even  as  Charles  Albert's  had 
been  in  1848.  Nor  were  the  Italians  any  more  successful  upon 
the  sea.     But  the  crushing  defeat  of  the  Austrians  at  Konig- 


PART   I 


ITALY  89 


gratz  ended  the  war ;  and  in  dictating  terms  Prussia  did  not 
forget  her  gallant  though  vanquished  ally.  And  very  soon 
came  the  disaster  at  Sedan  in  1870,  and  the  collapse  of  the 
French  Empire.  No  longer  could  the  Pope  rely  on  the  protec- 
tion of  foreign  bayonets,  for  the  Government  newly  established 
at  Paris  refused  to  uphold  him.  So  Victor  Emmanuel  took  quiet 
and  undisputed  possession  of  the  States  of  the  Church.  The 
long  struggle  for  freedom  and  unity  was  over. 

There  were,  it  is  true,  some  Italians  still  under  Austrian 
rule.  Those  in  Istria  and  the  Tyrol  looked  longingly  to  the 
new  kingdom  of  which  they  could  not  make  a  part ;  and  from 
time  to  time  the  cry  of  Italia  irredenta  (Italy  unredeemed)  rose 
from  fervent  patriots.  But  this  cry  did  not  rouse  the  nation 
at  large.  Italy  was  well  satisfied  with  what  had  been  achieved. 
In  the  whole  Italian  peninsula  only  the  little  republic  of  San 
Marino  remained  independent  of  Victor  Emmanuel's  sway. 

Having  secured  her  freedom,  Italy  was  anxious  to  maintain 
it.  To  the  north  of  her  stood  France  and  Prussia,  facing  each 
other  with  anger  and  bitter  hatred.  What  injury  they  might 
inflict  upon  her  if  they  should  engage  in  conflict  was  a  serious 
problem.  That  one  of  these  powers  would  cripple  her  in  case 
of  war,  in  order  to  prevent  her  from  taking  sides  in  the  quarrel, 
seemed  not  impossible ;  and  full  protection  against  the  contin- 
gency was  considered  necessary.  So  in  1882  Italy  united  with 
Germany  and  Austria  to  form  the  Triple  Alliance.  But  that 
she  was  wise  in  doing  so  is  by  no  means  certain.  The  league  of 
these  three  strong  nations  undoubtedly  helps  to  preserve  the 
peace  of  Europe.  The  combination  is  too  powerful  to  be  as- 
sailed. But  the  Alliance  makes  it  necessary  for  Italy  to  main- 
tain a  considerable  army,  and  the  burden  of  taxation  thus 
engendered  occasions  serious  discontent.^  Many  believe  that 
Italy  should  rely  for  protection  upon  her  geographical  posi- 
tion, and  should  allow  the  northward  nations  to  fight  their 
own  battles. 

King  Victor  Emmanuel  died  in  1878,  deeply  mourned  by  the 
whole  nation.  His  share  in  the  work  of  unity  and  liberation 
has  not  been  forgotten.  His  statue  is  to  be  seen  in  more  than 
one  Italian  city,  and  from  time  to  time  is  adorned  with  wreaths 

1  It  is  not,  however,  the  maintenance  of  the  army  that  causes  the  heaviest 
financial  burdens.     See  p.  92. 


90  THE   LATIN   NATIONS  book  i 

by  a  grateful  people.^  His  son,  wlio  succeeded  him  as  Hum- 
bert IV.,  has  many  of  the  traits  that  distinguished  Victor 
Emmanuel  himself.  Brave  in  battle,^  a  sincere  patriot,  a  lover 
of  his  people,  and  a  liberal  and  progressive  ruler,  he  is  deeply 
beloved  by  his  subjects.  The  censure  with  which  he  is  some- 
times visited  is  directed  against  his  royal  office  rather  than 
himself.  For  some  of  the  rabid  Socialists  hate  the  very  name 
of  king.^ 

Under  the  rule  of  King  Humbert,  Italy  has  continued  to 
make  progress  in  many  directions.  She  has  had  the  guidance 
of  liberal  statesmen,  such  as  Depretis  and  Crispi,  the  latter  of 
whom  has  proved  himself  a  very  strong  and  able  leader.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  first  Italian  Parliament  in  1861,  and 
ever  since  has  been  a  foremost  figure  in  the  Constitutional 
party.  In  1887  he  succeeded  Depretis  as  head  of  the  Cabinet, 
and  remained  in  power  till  1891,  when  his  Ministry  was  de- 
feated. He  was  succeeded  by  the  Marquis  di  Rudini,  who 
represented  the  Conservatives ;  and  Crispi  became  the  head  of 
the  opposition.  But  the  new  Ministry  did  not  long  command 
the  confidence  of  the  country,  and  Crispi  was  again  called  to 
power  in  1894,  only  to  be  overtlirown  in  1896  by  the  defeat  of 
the  Italian  army  in  Abyssinia.-  Accordingly,  the  Marquis  di 
Rudini  was  again  made  the  head  of  the  INIinistry,  and  by 
granting  concessions  to  the  Republicans  and  Socialists,  who 
gained  ground  in  the  elections  of  1897,  he  maintained  himself 
in  power  until  May,  1898.  But  now  arose  a  serious  political 
crisis,  which  the  Ministry  proved  unable  to  meet.  For  owing 
to  the  high  prices  of  breadstuffs,  there  was  much  suffering 
among  the  peasantry  all  over  Italy,  and  serious  riots  occurred 

1  An  equestrian  statue  of  Victor  Emmanuel  was  unveiled  at  Florence  on  Sep- 
tember 20,  ItSitO.  On  October  (5,  1891,  three  thousand  citizens  of  Naples  caused 
a  monstrous  floral  wreath  to  be  placed  at  the  foot  of  the  statue  of  Victor 
Emmanuel  in  that  city. 

2  He  took  part  in  the  battle  of  Custozza  in  1868  and  showed  conspicuous 
gallantry. 

3  On  December  18,  189G,  when  it  was  proposed  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies 
to  allow  the  Crown  Prince  .^200,000  yearly  because  of  his  recent  marriage, 
Signor  Costa,  a  well-known  Socialist,  denounced  the  monarchy  as  a  useless 
and  dangerous  institution.  This  view,  though  not  generally  shared,  seems  to 
be  spreading,  and  King  Humbert  is  undoubtedly  losing  ground.  He  lacks 
self-assertion,  and  does  nothing  to  help  the  nation  out  of  its  difficulties  and 
embarrassments. 


PART  I  ITALY  91 

in  many  of  the  towns  and  cities.^  They  were  largely  fomented 
by  the  Radicals  and  Socialists,  and  in  some  provinces  they 
assnmed  such  a  formidable  character  that  the  military  were 
called  out,  and  the  most  insubordinate  districts  were  placed  in 
a  state  of  siege.  To  quiet  the  agitation  the  import  duty  on 
corn  was  temporarily  removed ;  but  the  IMinistry  could  not 
cope  with  the  difficulties  that  faced  it.  The  Marquis  di 
Rudini  had  endeavored  to  cooperate  with  the  Republicans,  but 
he  did  not  fairly  represent  advanced  Liberal  opinions,  and  was 
unable  to  command  the  confidence  of  the  disaffected  elements 
in  the  kingdom.  Moreover,  the  Cabinet  was  so  divided  that 
the  Marquis  found  it  necessary  to  place  the  resignations  of  its 
several  members  in  the  hands  of  the  King.  Requested  by  the 
King  to  form  another  Ministry,  he  succeeded  in  doing  so ;  but 
he  soon  found  that  he  could  not  command  a  majority  in  the 
Chamber  of  Deputies,  and  gave  way  to  General  Relloux. 
After  holding  office  for  a  year,  the  new  Prime  Minister  was 
forced  to  resign  on  account  of  a  complication  in  the  far  East, 
the  Government  having  demanded  of  China  tlie  cession  of  the 
port  of  San-Mun,  and  other  rights  which  the  Chinese  were 
unwilling  to  grant.  But  General  Pelloux  was  asked  by  the 
king  to  form  a  new  Ministry,  and  though  the  task  was  a  diffi- 
cult one,  he  finally  succeeded  in  composing  a  Cabinet  which 
commanded  the  confidence  of  the  country ;  for  some  of  the 
ablest  and  most  respected  political  leaders  of  the  kingdom 
were  among  its  members. 

Under  these  different  Liberal  leaders,  Italy,  though  still 
struggling  under  heavy  burdens,  has  reached  a  condition  which 
is  in  striking  contrast  to  the  misery  and  lethargy  that  marked 
the  days  of  despotism.  Education  has  been  made  compulsory 
for  children  from  six  to  nine  years  old;  new  and  improved 
methods  of  agriculture  have  been  encouraged ;  friendly  rela- 
tions with  the  Vatican  have  usually  been  maintained ;  and  a 
vigorous  though  questionable  colonial  policy  has  been  adopted. 
Considerable  tracts  have  been  acquired  in  Africa,  chiefly 
along  the  border  of  the  Red  Sea.  The  Italian  possessions  in 
this  region  stretch  along  the  shore  of  the  Red  Sea  for  670 
miles,  and  the  entire  colonial  district  goes  under  the  name  of 

1  To  understand  the  situation  at  this  time,  consult  the  Nation,  66  :  378, 
402,  458. 


92  THE   LATIN   NATIONS  book  i 

Erythraea.  In  1 889  Abyssinia  was  made  an  Italian  protecto- 
rate by  King  Menelek  II. ;  but  when  the  Italian  troops  advanced 
from  Erythrsea  in  1895,  Menelek  did  not  prove  true  to  his 
agreement.  Without  warning  he  appeared  with  his  army  to 
resist  the  Italians,  and  he  inflicted  a  severe  defeat  upon  them 
at  Ambalagi  on  December  8.  Reenforcements  were  immedi- 
ately sent  out  by  the  Italian  Government ;  but  the  officer  in 
command,  General  Baratieri,  did  not  act  with  sufficient  caution 
against  his  fierce  and  determined  antagonists.  On  February 
29  a  portion  of  his  army  was  almost  annihilated  by  the 
Abyssinians,  the  loss  in  killed  and  wounded  amounting  to  nine 
thousand  men.  All  Italy  was  excited  by  the  disaster.  A  de- 
sire to  avenge  the  defeat  took  deep  possession  of  the  national 
mind ;  and  Menelek's  own  attitude  did  not  tend  to  allay  this 
feeling.  For  in  proposing  terms  of  peace  he  made  large  and 
uncompromising  demands  which  Italy  could  not  accept  with- 
out humiliation.  But  as  time  passed,  a  calmer  and  probably  a 
wiser  view  of  the  situation  prevailed  with  the  Italian  Govern- 
ment. In  October,  1896,  it  agreed  upon  a  treaty  with  Menelek 
by  which  the  Italians  held  as  prisoners  by  the  Abyssinians 
were  released,  and  the  question  of  a  frontier  for  the  Italian 
Colony  was  left  open  for  further  negotiation.  More  than  this, 
a  sentiment  began  to  show  itself  in  the  Ministry  in  favor  of 
abandoning  Erythrsea  altogether,  and  expending  all  the  ener- 
gies of  the  Government  upon  strengthening  the  nation  at  home. 

And  certainly  the  question  of  administrative  reform  is  for 
Italy  an  all-absorbing  one.  The  country  is  poor,^  and  it  is 
poor  because,  in  spite  of  the  progress  that  has  been  made,  it  is 
still  badly  governed.  The  taxation  made  necessary  by  main- 
taining a  considerable  standing  army  is  supposed  to  be  the 
chief  financial  burden  which  the  nation  carries.  But  this  is  a 
mistake.  A  vicious  civil  service  is  the  principal  cause  of 
Italy's  poverty.  The  Government  maintains  a  far  greater 
number  of  officials  than  it  needs,  for  a  clamorous  horde  of 
politicians  insists  upon  being  supported  by  the  public  purse. 
And  among  these  officials  there  is  no  sense  of  responsibility. 
They  look  upon  the  Government  as  existing  for  their  benefit. 
They  make  the  burden  of  taxation  very  heavy  for  the  poor 
and  very  light  for  the  rich.     And  in  the  construction  of  public 

1  See  North  American  Review,  1(37  :  126  ;  ami  LittelVs  Living  Age,  218 :  89. 


PART    I 


ITALY  93 


works  similar  dishonest  pi-actices  are  common.  If  a  railway 
is  to  be  built  by  the  Government  the  contractor  is  not  held  to 
a  definite  agreement.  He  undertakes  to  construct  it  for  a 
certain  sum  which  he  considers  sufficient,  but  if  the  sum  is 
exhausted  before  the  work  is  completed,  the  Government  grants 
him  as  much  more  money  as  he  finds  necessary.  Nor  are  the 
railroads  which  are  owned  by  the  State  managed  upon  business 
principles.  It  is  estimated  that  as  many  as  forty  per  cent  of 
the  passengers  pay  no  fares. ^ 

Inefficient  administration,  lack  of  capital,  and  lack  of  enter- 
prise keep  Italy  poor.  Many  of  the  peasants  are  in  comfort- 
able circumstances,  for  poverty  is  by  no  means  universal  among 
the  lower  classes  of  the  country.  But  most  are  satisfied  with 
moderate  savings.  The  desire  to  acquire  wealth  is  not  com- 
monly found ,-  hence  capital  is  very  slowly  accumulated,  and 
the  natural  resources  of  the  country  are  not  as  productive  as 
they  should  be.  Business  energy  and  a  spirit  of  venture  are 
greatly  needed. 

Freedom  and  self-government,  therefore,  have  not  yet  eman- 
cipated Italy  from  mediaeval  conceptions  of  government  and 
life.  The  stamp  of  despotism  has  not  been  wholly  removed. 
Yet  wonderful  progress  has  been  made  since  the  tyrannies 
that  so  long  crippled  the  energies  of  the  people  were  shaken 
off.  Education  and  free  institutions  are  slowly  but  surely 
bringing  Italy  into  touch  with  the  modern  world.  Even  the 
vices  of  civilization  are  finding  a  home  on  Italian  soil.  The 
Socialists  and  the  Anarchists  are  trying  to  convert  the  peas- 
antry to  their  views,^  and  the  riots  of  1898  are  sufficient  to 
show  that  their  labors  are  not  wholly  without  fruit.  But  they 
do  not  succeed  in  causing  widespread  discontent.  The  working 
classes  of  Italy  are  gaining  in  comfort,  in  education,  and  in  self- 
respect.  That  their  condition  will  still  greatly  improve  is 
doubted  by  those  who  believe  that  the  Latin  races  are  declin- 
ing. But  the  optimist  has  as  much  use  as  the  pessimist  in 
politics.  A  people  that  has  won  freedom  and  unity  by  per- 
sistent and  heroic  effort  may  yet  win  national  greatness  and 
prosperity. 

1  The  above  facts  are  taken  from  a  letter  to  the  Nation,  published  in  the 
issue  for  June  25,  IWHi. 

^  For  Socialism  in  Italy  see  Presbyterian  and  Reformed  Review,  8: 108. 


94  THE   LATIN   NATIONS  book  i 

Italy  has  an  area  of  110,623  square  miles  and  a  population 
of  about  31,000,000.  It  is  a  constitutional  monarchy,  the  Gov- 
ernment being  vested  in  a  King  and  a  National  Parliament. 
The  powers  of  the  King  are  almost  entirely  executive.  Theo- 
retically he  is  vested  with  certain  rights  in  the  way  of  making 
treaties,  declaring  w^ar,  issuing  decrees,  appointing  officers,  and 
dissolving  the  Chamber  of  Deputies.  But  he  exercises  these 
rights,  not  with  entire  freedom  and  merely  as  his  own  judg- 
ment dictates,  but  only  as  his  ministers  advise  and  as  the 
Chamber  of  Deputies  makes  known  its  will.'  The  Upper 
House  of  legislation  is  a  Senate  of  about  400  members,  most 
of  whom  are  appointed  by  the  King  for  life  from  the  bishops, 
high  officials,  deputies  who  have  served  three  terms  or  six 
years,  members  of  the  Royal  Academy  of  Science  of  seven 
years'  standing,  wealthy  tax-payers,  and  those  who  have  ren- 
dered distinguished  service  to  the  State.  The  remaining 
senators  are  the  royal  princes  who  are  twenty -one  years  of  age. 
The  Lower  legislative  House  is  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  the 
members  of  which  are  508  in  number  and  are  chosen  by  a 
limited  suffrage.  To  vote  one  must  pass  certain  educational 
tests  which  are  severe  enough  to  deprive  large  numbers  of  the 
franchise.  But  as  elementary  education  is  now  compulsory, 
the  suffrage,  even  under  the  present  law,  wall  in  time  become 
extensive,  though  hardly  universal.  Money  bills  must  proceed 
from  the  Low^er  House ;  otherwise  the  two  Houses  have  equal 
legislative  powers.  The  deputies  are  chosen  for  five  years, 
but  the  Chamber  is  usually  dissolved  by  the  King  before  its 
full  term  has  expired.  It  chooses  its  own  president.  Both 
senators  and  deputies  travel  free,  but  receive  no  other 
emolument. 

The  business  of  Government  is  transacted  by  a  Cabinet  of 
nine  ministers,  who  have  the  right  to  attend  the  debates  of  both 
the  Upper  and  the  Lower  House,  but  not  to  vote. 

The  judicial  system  is  not  thoroughly  well  constructed.  There 
are  five  supreme  courts,  termed  Courts  of  Cassation ;  but  they 
are  independent  of  each  other  and  have  equal  powers.  Thus 
there  is  nothing  to  prevent  inconsistent  and  contradictory  de- 
cisions. In  the  lower  courts  the  judges  are  not  sufficiently  free 
from  political  control. 

1  "  Govenimeiits  and  Parties  of  Contiueutal  Eui'ope,"  II.  52. 


PART    I 


ITALY  95 


There  is  no  recognized  State  religion  in  Italy,  though  its  popu- 
lation is  almost  entirely  Catholic.  All  forms  of  worship  and 
belief  are  tolerated,  Italy  being  more  progressive  in  this  respect 
than  Spain. 

Owing  to  bad  and  inefficient  administration  the  finances  of 
the  country  are  in  a  very  unsatisfactory  condition.  The  debt 
is  above  $2,500,000,000,  and  is  constantly  increasing,  for  there 
are  frequent  deficits.^  The  yearly  expenditure  is  considerably 
above  $300,000,000,  and  this  is  a  large  sum  for  so  poor  a  country 
to  raise,  although  the  government  derives  a  considerable  reve- 
nue from  posts,  railways,  telegraphs,  and  other  branches  of  pub- 
lic service.  Yet  Italy's  linancial  prospects  are  by  no  means 
gloomy.  Commerce  is  growing,  imports  and  exports  continu- 
ally increase.  Silk,  wine,  olive  oil,  fruit,  and  other  productions 
bring  large  returns  ;  and  as  the  resources  of  the  country  are  de- 
veloped, the  export  trade  will  show  a  corresponding  growth. 
When  the  government  is  administered  on  purely  business 
principles,  as  in  time  it  certainly  will  be,  the  task  of  making 
income  and  expenditure  meet  will  be  no  longer  difficult. 

1  This  unsound  financial  condition  was  jjreatly  improve<l  by  Baron  Sonnino 
while  he  was  Minister  of  the  Treasury  under  Crispi,  18!);5  to  ISIlli.  For  an 
account  of  his  policy  consult  the  "  Annual  Register,"  for  18!)5,  p.  25.?;  or  the 
NutlOn,  ()!):30.  How  jji-ave  the  financial  situation  was  when  Baron  Sonnino 
took  charge  of  the  Treasury  is  shown  in  the  Voutemporary  Review,  65:4tMi. 


CHAPTER    VI 

SPAIN 

No  country  shows  more  strikingly  than  Spain  that  national 
power  and  greatness  are  dependent  upon  national  progress. 
The  Spaniards  are  a  brave  people.  They  wrested  their  lost 
territory  from  the  Moors  with  a  vigorous  hand,  and,  under 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  the  conquest  Avas  made  complete. 
These  two  powerful  sovereigns  united  Aragon  and  Castile,  and 
brought  all  Spain  under  their  sway ;  but  even  at  this  time 
was  made  the  fatal  mistake  which  sapped  Spain  of  her  strength 
and  gradually  robbed  her  of  her  dominions.  For  these  mon- 
archs  inaugurated  a  narrow  and  repressive  religious  policy ; 
they  persecuted  the  Moors  and  Jews,  gave  free  rein  to  the 
Inquisition,  and  frowned  upon  free  and  liberal  thought.  The 
same  course  was  pursued  by  subsequent  monarchs.  Scientific 
research  was  utterly  discouraged;  the  minds  of  the  people  were 
enslaved  by  ignorance  and  superstition.  Hence,  even  the 
power  and  splendor  attained  under  Charles  V.  in  the  sixteenth 
century  was  but  a  deceitful  index  of  the  country's  strength. 
Under  his  son,  Philip  II.,  Spain's  greatness  began  to  decline. 
This  bigoted  monarch  was  defeated  in  his  contest  with  the 
Netherlands ;  and,  though  he  succeeded  in  repressing  heresy, 
so-called,  in  Spain  itself,  he  did  so  at  the  cost  of  national  vigor 
and  independent  thinking.  Spain  was  becoming  self-satisfied, 
enervated,  indolent.  Her  vast  possessions  in  America  brought 
her  immense  revenues ;  but  these  very  i-evenues  disinclined  her 
people  to  the  discipline  of  arduous  daily  toil.  Still  further 
was  their  industrial  energy  diminished  by  the  expulsion  of  the 
Moors  in  1609,  in  the  reign  of  the  feeble-minded  Philip  III. 
And  now  the  decline  of  the  kingdom  was  rapid  and  almost 
unbroken  for  over  a  himdred  years.  It  was  shorn  of  exten- 
sive possessions,  distracted  by  civil  wars,  reduced  in  popula- 

96 


PART  I  SPAIN  97 

tion,  and  oppressed  by  poverty.  Its  armies,  which  had  once 
been  the  most  formidable  in  Europe,  no  longer  seemed  able  to 
win  a  victory.  A  better  state  of  things  prevailed  nnder  the 
French  Prince  who  reigned  as  Philip  IV.  from  1701  to  1746. 
Although  this  ruler  had  much  difficulty  in  making  good  his 
title  to  the  throne,  he  used  his  power,  after  he  had  once 
secured  it,  to  encourage  art  and  commerce.  And  the  same 
spirit  of  enterprise  and  progress  characterized  his  grandson, 
Charles  III.  Under  him  religious  bigotry  was  held  in  check, 
and  agriculture,  commerce,  and  industry  revived.  But  he  did 
not  carry  the  people  with  him  in  his  efforts  to  introduce 
reform.  They  had  lived  so  k)ng  in  an  atmosphere  of  intellec- 
tual darkness  that  they  preferred  ease  to  progress.  So,  after 
the  death  of  Philip  in  1788,  the  kingdom  lost  what  it  had 
gained ;  and  the  dawn  of  the  nineteenth  century  found  it 
effete,  unprogressive,  and  ridden  by  superstition.  Its  mon- 
arch, Charles  IV.,  was  bigoted  and  dull ;  his  councillors  were 
illiberal ;  his  policy  was  feeble. 

Spain,  therefore,  could  hardly  be  expected  to  lead  in  the 
great  democratic  movement  of  the  century.  It  were  much  if 
she  joined  it  at  all  after  so  many  centuries  of  ill-directed 
national  effort.  But  join  the  movement  she  did,  and  her  sym- 
pathy with  democratic  principles  was  not  long  in  showing 
itself.  The  blunders  and  the  incapacity  of  Charles  IV.  occa- 
sioned a  revolution  in  1808,  and  Ferdinand  VII.,  the  Prince  of 
the  Asturias,  was  temporarily  placed  upon  the  throne.  But 
both  Ferdinand  and  Charles  were  forced  to  abdicate  by  Napo- 
leon, who  had  for  some  time  had  his  eye  on  Spain,  and  who 
desired  to  use  the  country  for  his  own  ambitious  purposes. 
He  elevated  his  brother  Joseph  to  the  throne,  convened  an 
assembly  of  Americans  and  Spaniards,  and  caused  a  new  Con- 
stitution to  be  prepared.  This  was  the  first  written  Constitu- 
tion that  Spain  had  ever  received,  and  Napoleon  undoubtedly 
hoped  that  it  would  win  the  support  of  the  Spanish  Liberals 
and  weaken  the  opposition  to  his  brother's  reign.  But  in 
these  hopes  he  was  utterly  disappointed.  The  more  progres- 
sive and  enlightened  Spaniards  were  indeed  desirous  of  obtain- 
ing self-government;  for  even  in  this  bigoted  country  the 
principles  of  the  French  Revolution  seemed  to  be  finding 
their  Avay.     But   the   people   had   no   mind   to   receive   their 

H 


98  THE   LATIN  NATIONS  book  i 

rifrlits  as  the  srift  of  .a  foreiorner.  In  the  Constitution  Avhich 
Napoleon  had  granted  them  they  took  no  interest  whatever ; 
and  in  Joseph  Bonaparte  they  saw,  not  a  constitutional  sover- 
eign, but  the  mere  tool  of  a  usurping  tyrant.  Consequently, 
instead  of  conciliating  the  Spanish  people  by  his  meaningless 
concessions,  Napoleon  roused  their  bitter  hatred  by  his  unwar- 
rantable interference  with  their  affairs,  and  brought  on  that 
long  and  sanguinary  struggle  in  which  the  French  armies  were 
finally  routed  by  Wellington  and  his  zealous  Spanish  allies. 
Joseph  Bonaparte  fled  from  Madrid  on  August  11,  1812.  By 
November,  1813,  Spanish  soil  was  entirely  free  from  French 
invasion,  and  shortly  after  this.  Napoleon,  in  the  treaty  of  Va- 
lencay,  yielded  all  claim  to  Spanish  territory. 

So  Ferdinand  VII.  was  now  free  to  take  possession  of  the 
kingdom  of  which  he  had  been  so  summarily  deprived;  but 
though  he  had  originally  been  summoned  to  the  throne 
because  of  the  narrow  and  unpatriotic  conduct  of  Charles  IV., 
he  did  not  show  himself  a  liberal  and  enlightened  ruler.  He 
was  restored  to  the  throne  as  a  constitutional  sovereign ;  for 
in  1812,  not  long  before  the  expulsion  of  the  French,  the 
Spanish  Cortes  had  taken  a  decided  step  toward  popular  gov- 
ernment by  framing  a  new  Constitution.  But  on  reentering 
the  kingdom  in  1814,  Ferdinand  issvied  a  proclamation  annul- 
ling the  Constitution  and  reasserting  the  ancient  rights  of  the 
Spanish  monarch.  And  in  taking  this  step  he  did  not  awaken 
serious  ojipositiou  or  widespread  protest.  The  Cortes  freely 
resisted  him,  but  the  country  as  a  whole  approved  of  his 
action.  For  the  truth  was,  Spain  Avas  by  no  means  ready  for 
popular  government.  The  Liberal  movement  had  a  good  deal 
of  strength  in  the  cities,  especially  those  upon  the  sea-coast ; 
but  the  rural  population  were  under  the  influence  of  the 
priests,  and  were  averse  to  seeing  the  power  of  the  King  and 
of  the  privileged  classes  curtailed.  Moreover,  the  Constitu- 
tion itself  was  far  from  being  a  perfect  document.  It  did 
indeed  contain  many  excellent  provisions.  It  took  away  from 
the  King  the  right  of  absolute  veto ;  it  gave  the  Cortes  the 
power  to  make  war  and  peace,  organize  the  army,  and  appoint 
high  officers  and  judges;  and  it  recommended  trial  by  jury, 
though  it  did  not  actually  provide  for  it.  No  wonder  that 
these  admirable  features  created  more  than  one  movement  in 


PART  I  SPAIN  99 

its  favor  during  subsequent  years.  But  it  did  violence  to 
time-honored  institutions;  it  did  not  respect  the  rights  of 
landowners;  and  it  authorized  measures  to  curtail  the  rev- 
enues of  the  Church  and  to  suppress  the  convents.  Hence  the 
nobles,  the  priests,  and  the  peasantry,  who  would  countenance 
no  assault  upon  the  priesthood,  all  united  in  opposing  it. 

Under  these  circumstances  Ferdinand  was  able  to  set  aside 
the  Constitution  with  impunity,  especially  as  he  declaimed 
fiercely  against  despotism  and  promised  to  assemble  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  people  in  a  Cortes  as  soon  as  possible.  These 
promises  meant  absolutely  nothing,  for  Ferdinand  was  an 
arch  dissembler  and  never  kept  his  word  unless  compelled; 
but  they  deceived  the  people,  who  greeted  him  with  enthu- 
siasm, and  made  his  journey  to  Madrid  a  triumphal  march. 
But,  once  established  in  power,  he  soon  made  his  true  char- 
acter apparent.  Placing  himself  under  the  narrowest  influ- 
ences, he  drove  many  of  the  most  liberal  men  of  the  kingdom 
into  exile,  reestablished  the  Inquisition,  and  restored  the  same 
unenlightened  and  deadening  rule  that  had  brought  S})ain 
from  greatness  to  degradation.  Under  this  feeble  regime  the 
two  Floridas  were  sold  in  1819  to  the  United  States  and 
Mexico,  and  the  South  American  Colonies,  which  had  revolted 
while  Spain  was  at  war  with  France,  succeeded  in  gaining 
their  independence.  But  the  ineffective  measures  taken  to 
suppress  the  Colonies  angered  the  Spanish  armies.  Early  in 
1820  an  insurrection  broke  out  among  the  soldiers ;  the  Con- 
stitution of  1812  Avas  proclaimed;  and  Ferdinand,  alarmed  at 
the  formidable  character  of  the  outbreak,  granted  all  demands 
and  swore  to  support  the  Constitution.  Accordingly,  the 
Cortes,  or  legislative  body,  was  convened  on  July  9  of  this 
same  year. 

But  Spain  was  still  far  from  being  ready  for  representative 
government.  As  was  the  case  in  1814,  the  clergy  were  opposed 
to  reforms,  and  the  people  sympathized  with  the  clergy  rather 
than  with  the  Liberal  party.  So  the  Liberals  had  almost 
everything  against  them.  The  King,  thoagh  he  still  remained 
true  to  his  oath,  thoroughly  disliked  them ;  the  vast  wealth 
and  influence  of  the  Cluarch  was  opposed  to  them ;  the  people 
gave  them  little  assistance.  Unable  to  maintain  their  hold 
upon  the  King  without  exciting  civil  war,  they  still  refused  to 


100  THE   LATIN   NATIONS  book  i 

abandon  their  principles.  In  1821  the  two  opposing  parties 
came  into  armed  conliict ;  and  at  first,  in  spite  of  all  the  forces 
arrayed  against  them,  the  Liberals  were  successful  through 
the  support  they  received  from  the  soldiery.  But  when  a 
French  army  of  one  hundred  thousand  men  was  sent  against 
them  in  1823  at  the  dictate  of  the  Holy  Alliance,  they  were 
obliged  to  give  way.  The  cause  of  absolutism  won  a  com- 
plete triumph.  King  Ferdinand  was  now  entirely  dominated 
by  the  narrowest  clerical  influence.  He  allow^ed  the  Liberals 
to  be  persecuted  and  put  to  death,  and  the  Inquisition  to  be 
restored.  He  did  not  even  resent  the  presence  of  the  French 
troops  who  remained  in  the  country  till  1827  to  make  the 
power  of  the  clerical  party  secure. 

But  not  even  by  this  subserviency  did  Ferdinand  fully  satisfy 
the  clergy.  They  wished  a  king  who  would  rule  solely  for  the 
good  of  the  Church,  and  they  therefore  conspired  to  give  the 
throne  to  Don  Carlos,  the  younger  brother  of  Ferdinand,  and 
the  very  personification  of  absolutism  and  religious  bigotry. 
This  attempt  resulted  in  another  civil  war,  which,  though  it 
did  not  prove  serious,  added  to  the  miseries  and  the  already 
heavy  financial  burdens  of  the  country.  But  in  1830  the  Carlist 
movement  became  more  formidable.  For  in  that  year  Ferdi- 
nand VII.  issued  a  pragmatic  sanction  setting  aside  the  Salic 
Law,  and  thus  making  it  possible  for  his  infant  daughter,  who 
was  born  October  10, 1830,  to  succeed  to  the  throne.  Whether  or 
not  the  King  had  a  right  to  issue  such  a  decree  is  a  disputed 
question.^  Don  Carlos  and  his  followers  protested  that  the 
decree  was  entirely  illegal ;  and  when  Ferdinand  died  in  1833, 
and  the  Queen,  Maria  Christina,  claimed  the  right  to  govern 
in  behalf  of  her  infant  daughter,  Isabella,  they  raised  the 
standard  of  insurrection.  As  they  stood  for  intolerance  and 
despotism,  the  Queen  Regent,  much  against  her  own  inclina- 
tion, was  obliged  to  adopt  the  Liberal  cause.  All  the  more 
was  this  step  necessary  because  the  Carlists  were  ably  led  and 
at  first  seemed  likely  to  be  successful.  Their  general,  Zuma- 
lacarregui,  showed   himself   a  prodigy  of   energy  and   valor. 

1  The  question  of  the  pragmatic  sanction  is  ably  considered  by  Caleb 
Cushiiifj  in  a  despatch  sent  to  the  United  States  Government  on  December  2, 
1875,  while  the  second  Carlist  insurrection  was  in  progress.  ("  Foreign  Rela- 
tions for  lS75-7(;,"  pp.  442-445.)  A  brief  abridgment  of  the  paper  may  be 
found  in  Currie's  "  Cunstitutiuual  Government  in  Spain,"  p.  152. 


PART    I  SPAIN  101 

He  seemed  ubiquitous,  so  rapid  were  his  movements ;  and  his 
presence  on  the  battle-field  often  brought  victory  to  the  Carlist 
banners.  Unfortunately  for  the  cause  of  the  insurgents,  he 
was  killed  in  1835.'  The  Queen  Regent  was  therefore  com- 
pelled to  conciliate  the  Liberals  at  any  cost.  Without  their 
support  her  cause  would  have  been  hopeless.  So  she  granted 
a  new  Constitution  in  1834,  abolished  the  Inquisition,  and  ex- 
pelled the  Jesuits.  But  even  these  concessions  were  not  suffi- 
cient. Although  the  peasants  Avere  still  opposed  to  reform, 
Liberal  ideas  were  gaining  ground  in  the  centres  of  education 
and  culture.  The  cities  clamored  for  modern  institutions  and 
Liberal  government.  To  resist  their  demands  was  dangerous. 
The  Liberal  army  was  possessed  by  the  spirit  of  progress,  and 
was  ready  to  revolt  if  only  meagre  and  halfway  measures  of 
reform  were  adopted.  Accordingly,  in  1837,  Maria  Christina 
reluctantly  granted  a  new  and  still  more  liberal  Constitution. 
By  this  means  the  Queen  Regent  united  the  Liberals  around 
her  and  ultimately  secured  the  throne  for  her  daughter  Isabella. 
Her  general,  Espartero,  conducted  the  campaign  against  the 
Carlists  with  ability  and  vigor.  Taking  advantage  of  dissen- 
sions which  showed  themselves  in  the  Carlist  forces,  he  broke 
their  power  and  brought  the  insurrection  to  an  end.  Don 
Carlos  himself  saw  that  his  cause  was  lost,  and  abandoned  the 
conflict.  By  the  summer  of  1840  the  supremacy  of  Maria 
Christina  was  fully  established. 

But  the  Queen  Regent  belonged  to  the  royal  family  of  Naples, 
and  in  that  stronghold  of  tyranny  she  had  acquired  an  insuper- 
able aversion  to  popidar  government.  Forced  to  adopt  Liberal 
principles  for  self-preservation,  she  abandoned  them  the  moment 
she  thought  her  power  secure.  Without  actually  annulling  the 
new  Constitution,  she  continually  violated  its  provisions  and 
aroused  the  open  opposition  of  the  Liberals.  In  the  very  year 
in  which  her  victory  over  Don  Carlos  was  made  comjjlete,  she 
was  obliged  to  relinquish  the  throne  and  seek  refuge  in  France. 
As  Isabella  was  not  yet  old  enough  to  reign,  Espartero  was 
made  Regent  by  the  Cortes  on  May  8,  1841.  But,  though  pos- 
sessed of  undoubted  abilities  and  actuated  by  Liberal  views,  Es- 
partero had  from  the  first  no  chance  of  maintaining  himself  in 

1  For  the  far-reaching  power  and  influence  of  Zunialacarregui,  consult 
"The  Kevolulions  of  Spain,"  by  W.  W.  Walton,  Vol.  II.  Ch.  XV. 


102  THE   LATIN   NATIONS  book  i 

power.  The  Spaniards  are,  perhaps,  the  pfbudest  and  haugh- 
tiest race  in  the  worhL  Fettered  by  tradition  and  exulting  in 
the  acliievenients  of  their  more  illustrious  rulers,  they  have  an 
unbounded  respect  for  royalty  and  all  its  pomp  and  prestige. 
Only  to  royalty  and  to  the  Church  will  they  render  homage. 
ISTo  matter  how  intrinsically  good  and  efficient  a  rule  may  be, 
if  it  is  not  invested  with  princely  splendor  it  will  fail  to  com- 
mand obedience.  Republican  ideas  have  made  some  headway 
in  Spain,  but  they  have  not  made  sufficient  headway  to  dispel 
the  glamour  of  the  mitre  and  the  crown.  It  was  in  vain,  there- 
fore, that  Espartero  governed  the  country  wisely,  encouraged 
trade  and  commerce,  and  furthered  internal  improvements. 
He  raised  up  enemies ;  Maria  Christina  organized  consi^iracies 
against  him  ;  and  on  July  26,  1843,  he  resigned  his  office.  To 
him,  as  to  many  other  victims  of  revolutionary  agitation,  the 
hospitable  shores  of  England  seemed  inviting.  In  that  country 
he  lived  quietly  for  many  years  till  recalled  by  his  sovereign 
to  meet  a  threatening  crisis. 

Left  for  a  time  without  a  head,  Spain  was  once  more  torn  by 
dissension  and  intrigue.  Settled  peace  seemed  impossible  for 
this  unhappy  country.  And  this  was  only  the  natural  result 
of  an  unprogressive  past.  The  people  had  never  had  the  slight- 
est training  in  the  principles  of  self-government.  They  could 
blindly  obey  the  authority  of  King  and  Church,  but  they  did 
not  know  or  understand  the  importance  of  bowing  to  the  will 
of  the  majority  and  of  acknowledging  established  rule.  Hence 
anarchy  and  discord  arose  whenever  the  smallest  opportunity 
offered.  As  in  other  European  countries  where  despotism  had 
reigned  for  centuries,  the  growth  of  democratic  ideas  occasioned 
successive  throes  of  conflict.  The  sanguinary  scenes  of  the 
French  Revolution  were  not  indeed  repeated  on  Spanish  soil ; 
but  Spain  paid  for  its  four  centuries  of  darkness  and  supersti- 
tion by  a  long  period  of  alarms  and  civil  discord.  No  sooner 
had  Espartero  retired  from  the  country  than  the  party  of  prog- 
ress and  the  followers  of  Maria  Christina  engaged  in  bloody 
conflicts.  To  quiet  these  disturbances  the  Cortes,  on  November 
8,  1843,  proclaimed  Isabella,  now  in  her  fourteenth  year,  to  be 
of  age.  Three  years  later,  on  October  10, 1846,  the  young  Queen 
was  married  to  Francis  of  Assisi,  and  her  sister  Luisa  was  at 
the  same  time  united  to  the  Duke  of  Montpensier  —  these  being 


PART    I 


SPAIN  103 


the  famous  Spanish  Marriages  which  occasioned,  so  nuich  un- 
favorable comment  against  Louis  Philippe  among  the  courts  of 
Europe.^  But  however  reasonable  such  criticism  may  have 
been,  the  marriage  of  Isabella  to  the  infant  Francis  brought  lit- 
tle benefit  either  to  France  or  to  Spain.  The  latter  country  did 
not  grow  quiet  under  its  new  ruler.  Maria  Christina  was  un- 
wisely recalled  from  France  soon  after  Isabella's  reign  began, 
and  her  presence  always  fomented  discord.  Nor  did  Isabella 
herself  prove  more  competent  to  manage  the  affairs  of  the  rest- 
less and  distracted  natiou.  For  though  she  did  not  allow  her 
mother  to  rule  her,  she  became  estranged  from  her  husband  and 
made  her  court  a  seat  of  profligacy  and  intrigue.  For  more 
than  ten  years  after  her  accession  to  the  throne  the  country 
submitted  to  her  corrajit  and  inefticient  sway,  and  saw  Cabinet 
after  Cabinet  go  down  from  lack  of  royal  support  and  a  con- 
sistent policy.  But  in  1854  the  discontent  which  had  been  in- 
creasing under  this  condition  of  affairs  found  expression  in  a 
formidable  insurrection.  Its  seat  was  in  the  military,  who  made 
General  O'Donnell  their  leader,  and  demanded  that  the  Consti- 
tution of  1837  be  restored  and  that  Maria  Christina  be  ban- 
ished from  the  country.  To  this  demand  Isabella  was  obliged 
to  submit,  and  there  is  reason  to  Ijelieve  that  to  the  provi- 
sion which  called  for  her  mother's  removal  her  approval  was 
not  unwillingly  given.  If  there  was  to  be  intrigue,  she  herself 
wished  to  be  the  author  and  the  centre  of  it.  Therefore,  see- 
ing that  the  restoration  of  order  called  for  a  vigorous  hand,  she 
recalled  Espartero  from  England,  and  put  him  at  the  head  of 
affairs.  With  prompt  decision  he  sent  Maria  Christina  back 
into  France,  and  secured  for  the  country  a  short  period  of  in- 
ternal peace  and  trancpiillity.  But  settled  order  was  impossi- 
ble under  a  ruler  whose  favorites  were  bigoted  and  vicious,  and 
who  used  her  sovereign  power  chiefly  to  minister  to  her  own 
l)ersonal  pleasures.  As  before  the  recall  of  Espartero,  Cabinets 
found  themselves  without  the  royal  support  and  went  down  in 
rapid  succession.  Every  year  brought  the  Queen  into  greater 
disrepute  and  increased  the  disaffection  of  her  subjects.  Nor 
did  Isabella  strengthen  herself  by  banishing  the  ablest  gener- 
als and  political  leaders  of  the  kingdom.-     From  their  places 

1  Consult  p.  ."7. 

2  Even   the  Duke  of  Montpensier's  exalted   rank  did   not  save  hiin   from 
being  exiled. 


104  THE   LATIN   NATIONS  book  i 

of  exile  these  men  intrigued  against  her,  and  finally  brought 
about  her  overthrow.  In  1868  she  was  obliged  to  yield  to  the 
storm  that  had  long  been  gathering.  All  her  enemies  united 
against  her  and  excited  an  insurrection.  General  Prim  and  Gen- 
eral Serrano  returned  from  exile  to  lead  the  movement.  It  was 
indeed  characteristic  of  Spanish  politics  that  these  men  should 
be  thus  united  in  an  enterprise  which  was  after  all  largely  per- 
sonal in  character.  For  Republican  ideas  have  not  made  suffi- 
cient progress  in  Spain  to  cause  parties  to  be  groviped  by  their 
political  principles.  True,  we  see  Moderates,  Progressists,  Re- 
publicans, and  Radicals  playing  their  several  parts  all  through 
the  century.  But  these  names  by  no  means  stand  for  fixed  and 
clearly  defined  political  parties.  The  man  who  is  one  day  a 
Republican  will  the  next  day  be  a  Conservative  if  personal  in- 
terest so  orders.  For  almost  always  in  the  political  changes 
that  take  place  in  Spain  the  question  of  personal  interest  is 
dominant ;  and  even  men  of  high  aims  and  genuine  patriotism 
become  political  adventurers  from  force  of  circumstances.  The 
men  who  now  joined  to  overthrow  Isabella  had  not  always 
worked  together  or  belonged  to  the  same  party.  Kor  was  it 
devotion  to  any  common  idea  or  principle  that  now  united 
them.  They  all  believed  that  the  Queen's  reign  stood  in  the 
way  of  order  and  progress ;  so  they  made  common  cause  in 
bringing  her  shameful  rule  to  an  end,  without  knowing  what 
manner  of  government  they  should  establish  in  place  of  it. 

And  as  matters  developed  this  proved  a  very  troublesome 
problem.  Isabella  abdicated  on  September  30,  1868,  and,  like 
her  mother,  withdrew  to  France,  where  she  is  still  residing. 
As  a  prominent  leader  in  the  recent  insurrection  and  a  man  of 
wide  experience  in  war  and  politics,  Serrano  was  made  head  of 
the  provisional  government  that  was  now  established.  Like 
Espartero,  Serrano  proved  himself  a  progressive  administrator; 
unlike  him,  he  did  not  devote  his  energies  merely  to  furthering 
material  prosperity.  He  showed  his  sympathy  with  liberal 
principles  of  government  by  bringing  about  the  expulsion  of 
the  Jesuits  and  the  confiscation  of  their  property,  granting  lib- 
erty to  the  press,  and  causing  a  new  Constitution  to  be  submit- 
ted to  the  Cortes.  The  Constitution  was  adopted  by  that  body 
and  proclaimed  on  June  6,  1869,  but  it  led  ultimately  to  a  new 
insurrection,  for,  though  it  recognized  monarchy  as  the  legiti- 


PART    I 


SPAIN  105 


mate  form  of  government,  it  also  recognized  that  the  royal 
power  should  be  exercised  through  ministers  responsible  to  the 
nation.  This  principle  excited  the  opposition  of  the  Carlists, 
and  their  dissatisfaction  was  greatly  increased  when  Serrano 
was  made  Regent  shortly  after  the  new  Constitution  was  pro- 
claimed. As  the  son  of  Don  Carlos  had  renounced  the  rights 
of  his  line,  the  grandson  of  that  defeated  aspirant  for  royalty 
appeared  as  a  pretender  to  the  Spanish  throne  under  the  title 
of  Carlos  VII.  His  claim  at  once  found  recognition  among  the 
Carlists  and  the  more  bigoted  of  the  clergy ;  but  the  movement 
in  his  favor  did  not  at  first  excite  apprehension  among  the 
friends  of  the  Constitution.  Much  more  alarming  seemed  the 
insurrection  in  Cuba  which  broke  out  in  1868  as  a  result  of 
the  indignities  suffered  by  its  inhabitants  at  the  hands  of  the 
Spanish  Government.  Not  without  much  difficulty  and  serious 
loss  of  life  was  the  uprising  quelled. 

But  though  Spain  was  still  a  monarchy  by  the  new  Con- 
stitution, it  had  trouble  in  finding  a  king.  Alfonso,  son 
of  Isabella,  who  was  born  November  28,  1857,  was  too  young 
to  be  crowned,  and  his  mother's  evil  courses  created  a  preju- 
dice against  him.  As  the  Constitutionalists  would  not  for  a 
moment  consider  the  claims  of  the  grandson  of  Don  Carlos, 
it  became  necessary  to  secure  a  foreign  prince.  The  crown 
was  first  offered  to  Prince  Leopold  of  Sigmaringen,  and  the 
Franco-Prussian  War  was  brought  on  in  consequence,  though 
the  offer  was  declined.  Better  success  attended  the  negotia- 
tions with  Amadeus,  the  second  son  of  King  Victor  Emmanuel. 
This  prince  consented  to  receive  the  crown  and  was  elected 
King  by  the  Cortes  on  November  16,  1870.  Very  soon  setting 
out  for  Spain,  he  arrived  there  on  December  30,  only  to  be 
encountered  by  an  inauspicious  omen  of  a  brief  and  troubled 
reign.  For  on  the  very  day  that  he  set  foot  in  the  country 
General  Prim,  who  had  done  much  to  secure  his  election,  was 
assassinated ;  and  the  gloom  created  by  this  event  seemed  to 
follow  the  King  throughout  his  stay  in  an  alien  land.  Not 
possessing  extraordinary  force  or  vigor,  he  could  not  create 
a  strong  personal  following.  The  Spaniards,  resenting  the 
rule  of  a  foreigner,  were  cool  and  indifferent  toward  him,  and 
the  kingdom  grew  more  and  more  restless  under  his  feeble 
sway.     Finally  realizing  that  he  could  not  win  the  allegiance 


106  THE   LATIN   NATIONS  book  i 

of  tlie  nation,  he  abdicated  on  February  11, 1873,  and  left  the 
country. 

Equally  futile  was  the  attempt  to  establish  a  republic.  One 
was  indeed  organized  in  the  following  September,  with  Emilio 
Castelar,  a  brilliant  orator  and  expounder  of  republican  prin- 
ciples, as  its  President.  But  Castelar  proved  to  be  only  a 
theorist.  He  had  no  practical  sagacity,  no  grasp  of  detail. 
Under  his  loose  and  easy-going  administration  matters  went 
from  bad  to  worse.  Disorder  reigned ;  the  Carlist  insurgents 
made  great  headway  ;  and  early  in  1874  the  Eepublic  fell  to 
pieces  from  sheer  impotency.  So  serious  did  the  Carlist 
insurrection  now  become,  that  a  decisive  step  toward  the  estab- 
lishment of  order  and  constitutional  government  seemed  neces- 
sary. The  military,  under  the  lead  of  General  Martinez  Campos, 
proved  equal  to  the  situation.  On  December  29,  1874,  they 
proclaimed  Isabella's  son,  Alfonso,  King,  and  the  youth  of 
seventeen  was  soon  at  the  head  of  the  army.  Defeated  at 
first  by  the  Carlists,  he  eventually  succeeded  in  suppressing 
the  insurrection  and  in  winning  the  confidence  of  the  nation. 
The  Carlists  abandoned  the  struggle  in  1876.  Thus  the  cause 
of  constitutional  monarchy  was  for  the  time  being  made 
secure. 

And  still  more  secure  did  it  seem  to  become  as  the  young 
King  gained  in  maturity  and  experience.  For  he  had  qualities 
that  endeared  him  to  his  subjects,  and  he  became  a  great  favor- 
ite with  the  Spanish  people.  He  had  a  pleasing  address,  a 
liberal  and  cultivated  mind,  and  an  affectionate  nature.  AVith 
the  army  he  was  extremely  popular,  for  he  was  a  splendid  rider, 
and  he  devoted  much  time  to  the  study  of  military  tactics. 
The  chivalrous  Spaniards,  moreover,  were  won  by  the  story  of 
his  love,  Avhich  had  both  a  romantic  and  a  tragic  side.  Deeply 
attached  from  boyhood  to  his  young  cousin,  Maria  de  las  Mer- 
cedes, the  second  daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Montpensier,  he 
resolutely  refused  to  marry  any  of  the  princesses  whom  his 
ministers,  for  reasons  of  State  policy,  commended  to  his  notice. 
It  was  in  vain  that  they  objected  to  an  alliance  Avith  the  Mont- 
pensier family  on  the  ground  that  the  duke  himself  was 
unpopular  and  his  daughter  would  be  coldly  welcomed  by  the 
Spanish  people.  Alfonso  remained  firm,  and  bore  down  all  op- 
position by  the  loyalty  of  his  affection.     He  married  Mercedes 


PART  I  SPAIN  107 

in  January,  1878,  and  so  captivated  were  the  Spanish  by  the 
charms  and  graces  of  the  young  Queen  that  the  forebodings 
of  the  King's  ministers  proved  to  have  been  unfounded.  Mer- 
cedes soon  became  as  popular  as  the  King  himself.  But  only 
a  short  season  of  happiness  Avas  given  to  the  royal  lovers.  The 
Queen  died  live  mouths  after  her  marriage,  and  the  King 
mourned  for  her  with  a  passionate  grief  which  profoundly 
affected  the  nation.  But  he  was  not  allowed  to  be  wholly  con- 
stant to  his  first  and  only  love.  The  kingdom  needed  an  heir, 
and  in  the  summer  of  1879  Alfonso  was  married  to  the  Arch- 
duchess Maria  Christina,  niece  of  Francis  Joseph,  the  Emperor 
of  Austria.  From  this  union  came  two  daughters,  Mercedes 
and  Maria  Teresa,  and  a  son,  Alfonso  XIII.,  who  was  born  on 
May  17,  1886,  about  five  months  after  his  father's  death. 

Thus  the  kingdom  had  no  male  heir  when  Alfonso  passed 
away,  but  in  spite  of  this  fact  no  uprising  against  the  Govern- 
ment occurred.  It  seemed,  therefore,  that  the  cause  of  repre- 
sentative government  and  constitutional  monarchy  was  gaining 
ground  in  Spain.  Alfonso  himself  always  maintained  the  lib- 
eral Constitution  that  was  proclaimed  on  June  oO,  1876;  and 
for  a  number  of  years  after  his  death  its  validity  was  not 
questioned.  His  widow,  Maria  Christina,  was  made*  Queen 
Regent  by  the  Cortes,  and,  foreigner  though  she  was,  she  won 
the  respect  of  the  Spanish  people  by  her  dignity,  her  devotion 
to  the  interests  of  the  kingdom,  and  her  steadfast  adherence  to 
the  spirit  of  the  Constitution.  She  gave  a  loyal  support  to  the 
Cabinet,  as  Alfonso  had  done  before  her;  and  the  Conserva- 
tives and  the  Liberals  succeeded  each  other  without  causing 
any  upheavals  or  even  grave  crises  in  the  kingdom.  Each 
of  these  two  great  parties  was  headed  by  a  remarkable 
man.  Canovas  del  Castillo,  the  Conservative  leader,  was  a 
pure-minded  patriot,  who  always  put  the  interests  of  the 
nation  before  those  of  self  or  party,  and  who,  though  averse  to 
violent  changes,  was  progressive  rather  than  reactionary  in 
temper  and  conduct.  It  was  he  who  promoted  the  first  meas- 
ure toward  the  abolition  of  the  slave  traffic  in  Cuba;  and  to 
religious  toleration  he  always  gave  an  unwavering  support. 
At  critical  jieriods  he  had  powerfully  strengthened  the  cause  of 
constitutional  monarchy,  and  the  present  Constitution  of  Spain 
is   largely  the  product    of    his  labors.     A    consistent  friend 


108  THE   LATIN   NATIONS  book  i 

of  order,  he  stoutly  opposed  the  anarchists  throughout  the 
forty  years  of  his  public  career,  and  it  was  this  devotion  to  the 
cause  of  stable  government  that  he  paid  for  with  his  life.  He 
was  assassinated  by  an  anarchist  on  August  8,  1897,  at  the 
very  time  when  he  was  holding  the  helm  of  State  and  was  strug- 
gling against  perilous  seas.  The  whole  country  mourned  his 
death.  Sagasta,  the  chief  of  the  rival  faction,  was  cast  in  a 
different  mould.  Adroitness  has  been  his  dominant  trait 
through  a  long  political  career.  Always  astute,  far-seeing,  self- 
contained,  and  vigilant,  he  has  guided  his  party  with  great 
ability  in  shifting  and  troublous  times.  But  his  shrewdness 
has  been  that  of  a  statesman  rather  than  that  of  a  low  and 
unscrupulous  politician ;  and  his  services  to  his  country  have 
been  many  and  great.  Under  these  leaders  Spain  seemed  to 
make  some  internal  progress  both  in  Alfonso's  reign  and  in  the 
earlier  years  of  Maria  Christina's  regency.  Important  steps 
were  taken  for  the  spread  of  elementary  education,  and  the 
industrial  arts  were  so  far  developed  that  Spain  was  able  to 
make  a  creditable  showing  at  the  Paris  Exposition  of  1889.  It 
may  be  added  that  universal  suffrage  was  adopted  in  1889,  but 
whether  this  was  a  benefit  in  a  country  which  still  shows  a 
high  percentage  of  illiteracy  is  very  doubtful. 

But  in  spite  of  internal  quiet  continued  through  many  years, 
and  in  spite  of  measures  that  seemed  to  betoken  a  progressive 
spirit,  Spain  remained  essentially  unchanged.  Her  peasantry 
was  unreasoning,  ignorant,  and  superstitious,  her  finances  were 
in  disorder,  her  officials  were  corruj^t  and  inefficient,  and  the 
whole  nation  seemed  sinking  into  lethargy  and  decay.  All 
this  was  made  apparent  by  a  series  of  events  which  took  place 
in  the  closing  years  of  the  century,  and  revealed  to  the  world 
Spain's  wretched  and  impoverished  condition.  For  in  1895 
there  occurred  an  insurrection  in  Cuba  which  led  to  vast  and 
unexpected  results.  That  island  had  long  been  restive  under 
Spanish  rule,  and  in  1868  it  began  a  war  for  independence 
which  lasted  for  ten  years.  In  1878  the  insurgents  were 
induced  to  lay  down  their  arms  by  the  "  Compromise  of 
Zanyon,"  Avhich  was  granted  by  the  Spanish  general,  Mar- 
tinez Campos,  and  which  conceded  to  Cuba  the  same  rights 
that  were  enjoyed  by  Porto  Rico,  besides  other  important 
privileges.      But   this    Compromise   brought   the   Cubans   no 


PART  I  SPAIN  109 

relief.  Its  conditions  were  not  fulfilled  by  the  Spanish  Gov- 
ernment, and  Cuba  continued  to  suffer  from  the  rapacity  and 
harshness  of  the  Spanish  officials.  So  heavily  were  the 
Cubans  taxed  and  so  outrageously  were  they  governed  that 
their  hatred  toward  the  Spaniards  grew  ever  more  intense 
and  bitter  till  it  found  expression  in  the  insurrection  of  1895. 
This  insurrection,  like  the  earlier  one  of  1868,  the  Spanish 
found  it  impossible  to  subdue  by  force.  It  was  headed  by 
Gomez  and  other  leaders  who  had  figured  in  the  former  move- 
ment, and  these  men,  retiring  to  the  mountains  with  their 
forces,  waged  a  ciuming  and  audacious  warfare  against  their 
more  numerous  foes.  Campos  was  again  sent  to  Cuba,  but  so 
futile  were  his  efforts  against  the  insurgents  that  he  was 
replaced  by  General  Weyler,  whose  measures  for  suppressing 
the  rebellion  Avere  both  vigorous  and  cruel.  He  divided  the 
island  into  three  parts  by  trochas,  or  military  lines  consisting 
of  small  garrisoned  forts  connected  by  earthworks  and  barbed 
wire  fences.  In  this  way  he  hoped  to  keep  the  insurgents  in 
the  different  parts  of  the  island  from  communicating  with  each 
other  and  from  working  with  a  common  purpose.  But  the 
Cubans  passed  and  repassed  the  trochas  with  impunity,  and 
Weyler  seemed  no  nearer  to  suppressing  the  rebellion  than  his 
predecessor  had  been.  When  the  Spaniards  and  the  insurgents 
engaged  in  armed  conflict,  as  frequently  happened,  the  latter 
very  often  came  off  victorious ;  and  as  the  months  and  years 
wore  aAvay  the  strength  of  Spain  was  severely  taxed  in  this 
seemingly  interminable  conflict.  Altogether  some  two  hundred 
thousand  men  were  sent  to  Ciiba  to  suppress  the  insurrection, 
and  the  cost  of  maintaining  them  impoverished  the  nation.  As 
for  the  soldiers  themselves,  they  were  ill  fed,  ill  paid,  wasted  by 
disease,  and  broken  in  spirit.  Many  of  them  were  mere  boys, 
who,  against  their  own  wishes  and  those  of  their  kindred,  were 
sent  to  face  fever,  starvation,  and  the  bullets  of  the  Cubans, 
and  to  return  home  sick  and  emaciated,  if  they  were  fortunate 
enough  to  return  at  all. 

The  condition  of  affairs  growing  thus  more  desperate  from 
day  to  day,  General  Weyler  saw  that  the  rebellion  could  only 
be  put  down  by  the  most  summary  and  uncompromising  meas- 
ures. He  therefore  determined  to  bring  the  rebels  to  terms 
by  depriving  them  of  their  means  of  support.     He  was  well 


110  THE   LATIN   NATIONS  book  i 

aware  that  the  Cubans  in  the  interior  who  did  not  bear  arms 
themselves  supplied  the  insurgents  with  food  and  other  neces- 
saries. This  class  of  non-combatants,  accordingly,  he  forced 
into  the  fortified  towns  held  by  the  Spaniards,  in  order  that 
their  farms  and  plantations  might  be  deserted  and  might  con- 
tribute nothing  to  the  needs  of  the  Cuban  forces.  But  the 
ones  who  suffered  from  these  cruel  measures  were  the  non- 
combatants  themselves,  who  were  termed  "  reconcentrados " 
after  they  were  thus  concentrated  within  the  Spanish  lines.  No 
longer  able  to  earn  their  own  livelihood,  and  receiving  no  food 
or  maintenance  from  the  Spanish  authorities,  they  soon  began 
to  die  from  starvation  in  great  numbers.  As  many  as  four 
hundred  thousand  were  brought  into  the  towns  by  the  order  of 
General  Weyler,  which  was  issued  on  October  21, 1896.  Before 
many  months  had  passed  half  of  them  were  dead  or  perish- 
ing, and  there  seemed  to  be  no  hope  that  the  rest  could  long 
survive. 

But  their  sufferings  did  not  go  unnoticed.  The  American 
people  had  watched  the  insurrection  in  Cuba  with  deep  interest 
from  its  first  beginning  in  1895,  and  as  Spain  showed  herself 
powerless  to  quell  the  uprising,  there  grew  up  in  the  United 
States  a  strong  feeling  in  favor  of  intervention.  Some  believed 
that  the  Cubans  should  be  recognized  as  belligerents,  others 
that  war  should  be  declared  against  Spain,  and  that  Cuba 
should  be  annexed  to  the  United  States.  In  Congress  the 
feeling  against  Spain  was  strong  and  bitter,  and  finally  brought 
on  a  war  between  Spain  and  the  United  States.  The  leading 
events  of  the  war  and  the  humiliating  terms  which  Spain  was 
ultimately  obliged  to  submit  to  are  recorded  elsewhere  (p.  465). 
Great  indignation  was  manifested  in  Spain  over  the  disastrous 
defeats  inflicted  upon  the  Spanish  navy  and  over  the  cession 
of  the  Philippines  and  the  Spanish  West  Indies  to  the  United 
States.  Sagasta's  government  felt  the  weight  of  this  dis- 
pleasure, and  was  barely  able  to  maintain  itself  in  power ; 
nor  did  the  Queen  Regent,  Maria  Christina,  escape  popular 
censure.  For  a  time  a  Carlist  uprising  seemed  imminent,  and, 
had  it  occurred,  it  might  Avell  have  proved  formidable.  But 
Don  Carlos  had  not  the  courage  to  strike;  discontent  was 
gradually  quieted,  and  the  country  accepted  the  lessons  of 
defeat.     With   dignity  and  with   serious   purpose  the   nation 


PART  I  SPAIN  111 

attempted  to  restore  its  ruiued  fiuances,  rebuild  its  navy,  aud 
reenter  the  path  of  progress. 

Although  Spain  showed  utter  feebleness  in  the  war  with  the 
United  States,  it  also  showed  splendid  heroism.  Its  people 
were  ready  to  sacrifice  and  die  for  their  country,  and  their 
ardent  patriotism  excited  universal  respect.  It  is  to  be  hoped, 
therefore,  that  the  process  of  decay  which  has  been  going  on  so 
long  can  be  stayed,  and  that  a  people  possessing  such  admirable 
qualities  may  yet  have  a  prosperous  career.  The  Spaniards  are 
frugal,  industrious,  and  temperate,  as  well  as  brave,  and  there 
seems  to  be  no  good  reasou  why  they  should  continue  to  lose  in 
strength  and  vigor.  Although  it  is  witlely  said  that  the  Latin 
nations  are  in  a  decline,  the  history  of  the  century  hardly 
bears  out  this  assertion.  Weighed  down  by  ignorance,  super- 
stition, bigotry,  and  oppressive  rule,  they  have  awakened  from 
their  mediaeval  slumbers  and  joined  in  the  common  movement 
for  constitutional  government.  Obtaining  it  under  exceedingly 
adverse  conditions,  they  have  not,  indeed,  shown  a  clear  appre- 
ciation of  its  nature  and  its  value.  Yet  they  have  shared  the 
progress  of  the  nineteenth  century.  They  have  encouraged 
edvication,  cultivated  the  industrial  and  the  aesthetic  arts,  made 
notable  contributions  to  literature,  and  kept  alive  a  strong 
national  spirit.  If  they  have  not  attained  to  political  stability, 
they  have  again  aud  again  emancipated  themselves  from  bad 
government,  and  shown  that  at  least  they  aspired  to  settled 
order  and  to  an  enlightened  popular  sovereignty. 

It  may  well  be,  then,  that  the  detractors  of  these  nations 
apply  to  them  impossible  standards.  Their  genius  is  not  for 
politics.  They  will  never  vie  with  the  Anglo-Saxon  in  found- 
ing democratic  institutions,  ruling  subject  peoples  with  equity, 
putting  law  upon  a  scientific  basis,  and  solving  the  tremendous 
socialistic  problems  that  are  now  taxing  the  mental  resources 
of  the  race.  But  their  comparative  failure  to  win  trium})hs  in 
these  walks  of  national  life  does  not  prove  that  they  are  des- 
tined to  decline.  JSsthetic,  emotional,  and  volatile,  they  will 
achieve  their  best  results  through  impulse,  keen  discernment, 
and  flashes  of  insight  rather  than  through  reason  and  philo- 
sophic grasp.  Yet  even  in  the  domain  of  politics  these  (poli- 
ties may  be  of  service  and  may  contribute  toward  the  making 
of  a  brilliant  national  life. 


112  THE   LATIN   NATIONS  book  i 

Spain  contains  197,670  square  miles.  Though  its  area  is 
nearly  as  great  as  that  of  France,  its  population  numbers  less 
than  twenty  million.  By  the  Constitution  of  1876,  Spain  was 
made  a  constitutional  monarchy,  the  executive  power  being 
vested  in  the  King,  and  the  legislative  power  in  the  Cortes  and 
the  King  conjointly.  Two  Houses  make  up  the  Cortes,  the 
Senate  and  the  Congress.  There  are  three  classes  of  senators : 
those  who  sit  by  right  of  birth  or  official  position ;  100  life  sen- 
ators nominated  by  the  Crown  (these  two  classes  not  to  exceed 
180) ;  and  180  senators  elected  by  the  Corporations  of  the  State. 
The  Congress  is  composed  of  431  deputies,  elected  by  all  male 
Spaniards  who  are  twenty-five  years  of  age,  enjoy  full  civil 
rights,  and  have  been  citizens  of  a  municipality  for  two  years. 
The  Sovereign  can  convoke,  suspend,  or  dissolve  the  Senate  and 
the  Congress ;  but  a  new  Cortes  must  sit  within  three  months 
after  a  dissolution  has  been  declared.  The  State  religion  is 
the  Roman  Catholic,  and  no  other  form  of  w^orship  is  allowed 
in  public ;  but  this  law  is  not  rigidly  enforced.  Primary  edu- 
cation is  compulsory,  but  the  compulsion  has  never  been  in- 
sisted upon,  and  a  large  proportion  of  the  people  are  illiterate. 


CHAPTER   VII 

PORTUGAL 

To  one  who  looks  carefully  at  the  map  of  the  Iberian  penin- 
sula two  facts  become  easily  apparent ;  one  is  that  the  entire 
peninsula  ought  to  make  a  single  country,  and  the  other  is  that 
such  dividing  lines  as  it  has  do  not  run  from  north  to  south  as 
does  the  boundary  between  Spain  and  Portugal.  For  the  great 
rivers  of  the  country  have  a  southeasterly  or  a  southwesterly 
flow,  and  its  mountain  chains  usually  follow  the  trend  of  the 
Pyrenees.  It  is  evident,  then,  that  Portugal  owes  its  existence, 
not  to  geography,  but  to  history.  The  geographical  features 
of  the  peninsula  do  not  warrant  its  division  into  the  two 
separate  kingdoms  which  lie  side  by  side  without  any  natural 
barrier  between  them.  But  history  easily  explains  what  geog- 
raphy thus  fails  to  account  for.  Vanquished  by  the  Moors, 
the  Christian  inhabitants  of  Spain  withdrew  to  the  mountains 
in  the  north,  which  abound  in  almost  impenetrable  fastnesses, 
and  winch  have  often  defied  invasion  both  in  ancient  and 
modern  times.  In  this  mountainous  region  they  maintained  a 
measure  of  independence,  and  from  it  they  began  to  issue  in 
the  eleventh  century  and  to  push  their  Moslem  enemies  toward 
the  south.  But,  kept  apart  by  the  rugged  character  of  the 
country  they  inhabited  and  by  the  jealousies  of  their  princes, 
the  Christians  did  not  form  themselves  into  one  formidable 
and  aggressive  power.  Their  warfare  was  a  desultory  one, 
and  their  conquests  were  extended  southward  along  several 
parallel  lines.  In  the  east  was  the  kingdom  of  Aragon ;  in 
the  west  and  centre  the  kingdoms  of  Leon,  Castile,  and  Galicia, 
which  in  the  latter  part  of  the  eleventh  century  were  all 
under  the  one  powerful  and  vigorous  sovereign,  Alfonso  VI. 
This  ruler,  finding  that  the  Moors  were  waxing  dangerous, 
besought  the  aid  of  Christian  knights  from  other  countries, 
I  113 


114  THE   LATIN   NATIONS  book  i 

.and  among  those  wlio  responded  to  the  call  was  Count  Henry 
of  Burgundy.  To  this  knight  he  gave  his  daughter  in  mar- 
riage and  the  newly  conquered  district  of  Portocallo,  compris- 
ing the  northern  part  of  modern  Portugal,  to  hold  in  fief.  But 
Count  Henry  was  anxious  to  be  King ;  and  though  sudden  death 
thwarted  this  ambition,  his  son,  Alfonso  Henriques,  attained 
the  coveted  distinction  and  showed  himself  to  be  one  of  the 
ablest  and  most  energetic  princes  of  his  time.  He  left  Portu- 
gal a  kingdom,  and  as  the  Moors  were  driven  southward,  the 
new  kingdom,  as  well  as  Aragon  and  Castile,  grew  in  size  and 
strength.  And  though  Aragon  and  Castile  were  united  under 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  Portugal  retained  its  separate  exist- 
ence. It  had  its  own  language,  its  own  literature,  its  own 
heroes  and  explorers,  and  its  own  colonial  possessions.  The 
Portuguese  reached  India  by  the  way  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope 
in  1497,  and  in  loOU  they  discovered  Brazil. 

Thus  the  early  years  of  the  sixteenth  century  saw  Portugal 
entering  upon  a  splendid  national  career.  Its  King,  by  virtue 
of  the  India  trade,  was  one  of  the  richest  sovereigns  of  Europe ; 
its  people,  proud  of  their  achievements  on  land  and  sea,  were 
full  of  energy  and  conscious  of  their  power.  In  maritime 
knowledge  they  led  the  world ;  in  commerce  they  hardly  had 
a  rival ;  and  in  spreading  their  conquests  and  discoveries  they 
ever  acquired  fresh  renown. 

But  the  same  century  that  witnessed  their  greatest  triumphs 
witnessed  also  their  decline.  The  King  of  Portugal  had  made 
himself  absolute,  and  in  so  doing  had  sapped  the  nobility  of 
their  strength.  The  people  had  no  leaders.  Emigration  to 
newly  found  lands  diminished  the  population  of  the  country. 
Commercial  prosperity  drew  crowds  to  the  cities  and  emptied 
the  rural  districts.  And  even  while  these  causes  were  bringing 
about  national  deterioration,  religious  bigotry  fastened  like  a 
blight  upon  the  kingdom.  King  John  III.,  who  reigned  from 
1521  to  1557,  introduced  the  Inquisition,  stifled  free  thought, 
and  robbed  literary  expression  of  fervor,  power,  and  greatness. 
In  the  closing  decades  of  the  century  Portugal  was  so  weak 
and  spiritless  that,  in  1580,  Philip  II.  of  Spain  was  able  to 
establish  a  manifestly  unjust  claim  to  the  throne.  Thus  the 
kingdoms,  which,  quite  as  much  as  England  and  Scotland, 
seemed  fitted  to  have  one  destiny,  were  at  last  united;  and 


PART    I 


PORTUGAL  115 


had  the  union  been  effected  earlier,  it  might  have  proved 
enduring.  But,  coining  as  it  did  after  Portugal  had  had  such 
a  splendid  national  experience,  it  lasted  little  more  than  half 
a  century.  Shorn  of  power  and  prestige  though  the  Portuguese 
were,  they  could  not  forget  the  epic  of  Camoens,  the  discoveries 
of  Bartholomew  Diaz  and  Vasco  de  Gama,  and  the  exploits  of 
Alfonso  de  Albuquerque,  the  "  Portuguese  Mars."  So  in  1040, 
supported  by  France  and  Holland,  they  asserted  their  inde- 
pendence;  and  with  England's  help  they  succeeded  in  main- 
taining themselves  in  the  long  and  bloody  war  with  Spain  that 
followed  this  rebellion.  The  crown  was  now  given  to  the  House 
of  Braganqa,  with  which  it  still  remains. 

But  Portugal  could  not  recover  what  she  had  lost  in  the  "  sixty 
years'  captivity,"  and  in  the  period  of  national  decline  that  had 
preceded  it.  Her  colonial  possessions  had  been  wrested  from 
her  by  England,  France,  and  Holland ;  and  though  she  recov- 
ered Brazil  from  the  Dutch  and  profited  by  its  wealth  of  gold 
and  diamonds,  she  was  from  this  time  on  an  insignificant 
power.  The  two  kingdoms  south  of  the  Pyrenees  had  had  a 
similar  if  not  a  common  destiny.  Each  had  had  its  period  of 
greatness  and  expansion,  followed  by  a  long  season  of  weak- 
ness, lethargy,  and  decay.  Portugal  as  well  as  Spain  began 
the  nineteenth  century  ignorant,  superstitious,  unprogressive, 
and  unfitted  to  lead  the  political  life  of  Europe. 

Yet  the  Portuguese  people  were  soon  to  show  that  they  could 
follow,  if  they  could  not  lead,  the  movement  for  constitutional 
freedom.  Narrow  and  bigoted  though  they  were,  they  had 
caught  the  spirit  of  liberty  which  had  been  roused  by  the 
French  Revolution.  In  their  country,  as  elsewhere  in  Europe, 
societies  of  Freemasons  devoted  themselves  to  propagating 
democratic  principles ;  and  it  was  largely  through  the  fear  of 
these  societies  that  the  royal  house  fled  at  the  approach  of  the 
French  in  1807.  For  Portugal,  like  Spain  and  Italy,  was 
coveted  by  Napoleon,  who  aimed  to  subjugate  the  kingdom, 
and  award  portions  of  it  to  his  adherents.  Accordingly,  he 
sent  General  Junot  with  an  army  to  drive  out  the  House  of 
Braganc^a  and  complete  the  work  of  conquest.  But  Junot's 
task  proved  unexpectedly  easy.  He  marched  into  the  country 
with  marvellous  celerity,  received  a  cordial  welcome  from  the 
Freemasons,   and   frightened    the    royal    family    out    of    all 


116  THE    LATIN   NATIONS  book  i 

thought  of  resistance  by  his  rapid  advance.  The  sovereign  at 
this  time  was  Maria  I.  She  had  succeeded  to  the  throne  in 
1777 ;  but  in  1788  she  became  insane,  and  her  son  Dom  John 
assumed  control  of  affairs,  and  was  formally  declared  Regent  in 
1799.  Unwilling  to  appeal  to  arms  in  this  unwelcome  crisis, 
Dom  John  appointed  a  regency,  left  the  English  to  defend  the 
kingdom  against  the  French,  and  sailed  for  Brazil  with  Queen 
Maria  and  all  the  members  of  his  family. 

That  the  English  did  not  betray  the  trust  committed  to  them 
is  one  of  the  well-known  facts  of  history.  They  were  anxious 
to  break  Kapoleon's  power,  and  they  used  Portugal  as  their 
base  of  operations.  Wellington  proved  more  than  a  match  for 
Junot  and  for  the  other  French  generals  whom  ISTapoleon  sent 
into  the  Spanish  peninsida.  Portugal  was  soon  freed  from 
French  invasion,  but  only  to  find  that  her  liberators  had  be- 
come her  taskmasters.  Although  Portuguese  affairs  were  nomi- 
nally under  the  control  of  a  regency,  the  English  general, 
Lord  Beresford,  ruled  the  country  very  much  like  a  dictator. 
No  doubt  this  arbitrary  assumption  of  power  was  in  the  inter- 
est of  order  and  good  government;  yet  none  the  less  it  was 
offensive  to  the  Portuguese,  who  soon  became  clamorous  for  the 
return  of  the  royal  family  from  Brazil.  But  for  some  time 
Dom  John  was  little  inclined  to  comply  with  the  wishes  of  his 
people.  His  mother,  Queen  Maria,  died  in  1816,  and  after  her 
death  he  took  the  title  of  John  VI.,  King  of  Portugal  and 
Brazil.  But  it  was  in  the  latter  country  that  he  preferred  to 
make  his  home.  Brazil,  with  its  unmatched  harbor  of  Rio  de 
Janeiro,  its  vast  area  and  its  inexhaustible  resources,  seemed 
to  him  a  better  seat  of  rule  than  his  native  land ;  so,  instead  of 
returning  at  once  to  Portugal  in  response  to  the  popular  wish, 
he  invited  the  leading  nobles  and  the  richest  merchants  of 
Portugal  to  settle  in  Brazil.  But  in  time  the  demands  of 
his  Portuguese  subjects  became  too  insistent  to  be  disregarded. 
The  outbreak  in  Spain  in  1820  aroused  the  spirit  of  insurrec- 
tion in  the  neighboring  kingdom,  and  caused  so  strong  a  feel- 
ing against  Lord  Beresford  that  he  sailed  for  Brazil  to  confer 
with  King  John  in  person.  Hardly  had  he  left  the  country 
when  risings  occurred  in  Oporto  and  Lisbon  that  resulted  in 
the  overthrow  of  the  regency,  and  the  convocation  of  a  Cortes 
to  frame  a  Constitution. 


PART  I  PORTUGAL  117 

And  this  same  democratic  spirit  made  its  way  across  the 
ocean.  King  John's  Brazilian  subjects  swore  allegiance  to  the 
Portuguese  Constitution,  even  before  that  instrument  was  per- 
fected ;  and,  summoned  at  once  by  his  native  country  and  urged 
by  the  land  of  his  adoption,  the  King  returned  to  Portugal  in 
1821,  leaving  his  son  Dom  Pedro  behind  him  to  rule  in  his 
stead.  Before  he  was  allowed  to  disembark  and  enter  Lisbon, 
he  was  obliged  to  sign  the  Constitution,  which  the  Portuguese 
had  now  completed,  and  thoroughly  imbued  with  the  spirit  of 
democracy.  And  this  Constitution  he  swore  to  support  in  the 
following  year,  1822. 

Thus,  after  an  absence  of  fourteen  years,  the  House  of 
Braganqa  resumed  its  reign  as  the  sworn  friend  of  popular 
rule.  While  most  of  the  kingdoms  of  Europe  bowed  to  the 
rule  of  the  Holy  Alliance,  Portugal  embarked  upon  the  path 
of  constitutional  government. 

But  the  path  proved  anything  but  a  smooth  one.  For  five 
years  the  King  endeavored  to  carry  oi;t  the  provisions  of  the 
Constitution,  harassed  all  the  time  by  his  wife  Carlotta  and 
his  son  Dom  Miguel,  both  of  whom  were  unscrupulous  and 
bigoted,  and  were  thoroughly  in  league  with  the  reactionists. 
And  while  they  were  giving  him  endless  trouble  at  home  his 
son  Dom  Pedro  disowned  all  allegiance  to  his  father  and  was 
crowned  Emperor  of  Brazil  in  December,  1822.  Still,  though 
at  one  time  made  prisoner  by  Dom  Miguel,  King  John  was 
able  to  maintain  himself  in  power.  But  after  his  death,  which 
occurred  in  1826,  the  kingdom  became  the  scene  of  civil  discord 
and  bloody  conflict.  For  straightway  the  friends  of  the  Con- 
stitution and  the  reactionists  became  pitted  against  each  other. 
The  latter  were  led  by  the  ex-Queen  Carlotta,  who  desired  to 
place  her  son  Dom  Miguel,  always  obedient  to  her  wishes,  upon 
the  throne.  The  Constitutional  party  was  headed  by  the  late 
King's  daughter,  Isabella  Maria.  She  had  been  named  Eegent 
by  her  father,  and  she  considered  her  brother,  Dom  Pedro,  the 
rightful  sovereign  of  Portugal.  But  Dom  Pedro  could  not  be 
King  of  Portugal  and  ruler  of  Brazil  at  the  same  time  ;  for 
when  the  independence  of  Brazil  was  acknowledged  by  King 
John,  it  was  secretly  agreed  that  the  two  thrones  should  not 
be  occupied  by  the  same  person.  Accordingly,  being  unwilling 
to  abdicate,  Dom  Pedro  attempted  to  reconcile  the  two  con- 


118  THE   LATIN  NATIONS  book  i 

tending  parties  in  Portugal  by  a  foolish  compromise.  Though 
Dom  Miguel  had  already  shown  himself  weak  and  treacherous, 
Dom  Pedro  trusted  him  and  played  into  his  hands.  Abandon- 
ing all  claim  to  the  Portuguese  throne  himself,  he  proclaimed 
his  seven-year-old  daughter,  Maria  da  Gloria,  Queen  of  Portu- 
gal, and  at  the  same  time  betrothed  her  to  his  brother  Dom 
Miguel.  He  also  granted  Portugal  a  liberal  Constitution,  which 
Dom  IVtiguel  swore  to  maintain.  So  Dom  Miguel  came  back 
from  Vienna,  whither  he  had  been  sent  by  his  father  on  account 
of  his  intrigues  and  rebellions,  and  governed  Portugal  as  Regent 
in  behalf  of  his  niece  Donna  Maria.  But  neither  he  nor  his 
mother  had  any  thought  of  remaining  true  to  the  liberal  Con- 
stitution granted  by  Dom  Pedro.  Instigated  and  aided  by 
Carlotta,  Dom  Miguel  dissolved  the  Cortes,  convened  an  assem- 
bly of  his  own  partisans,  and  on  July  4,  1828,  assumed  the 
title  of  King.  This  title  the  Constitutional  party  at  once  dis- 
puted. Consequently,  as  a  result  of  Dom  Pedro's  credulity, 
the  kingdom  was  plunged  into  civil  war. 

The  Constitutionalists  were  ready  to  fight  for  their  principles 
and  for  their  legitimate  sovereign,  but  for  a  time  they  were 
without  a  proper  head.  Donna  Maria  had  sailed  from  Brazil 
in  July,  1828 ;  but  her  guardian,  having  learned  at  Gibraltar 
of  the  treachery  of  Dom  Miguel,  carried  her  to  London,  whence 
she  returned  to  Brazil  in  the  following  year.  So  Dom  Pedro 
himself  found  urgent  reasons  for  repairing  to  the  torn  and  dis- 
tracted little  kingdom.  Abandoned  by  the  Liberal  party  in 
Brazil,  in  1830  he  abdicated  in  favor  of  his  son,  then  but  six 
years  old,  and  sailed  for  Europe  with  his  wife  and  his  daughter 
Donna  Maria.  He  was  cordially  received  at  Paris  and  London, 
where  he  first  resorted;  for  Portugal  was  too  thoroughly  under 
Dom  Miguel's  control  to  allow  of  his  landing  there.  On  the 
9th  of  February,  1832,  he  sailed  from  Belle  Isle  for  Terceira 
at  the  head  of  an  expedition,  and  at  Terceira  he  proclaimed 
himself  Regent  of  Portugal.  This  island  of  the  Azores  had 
become  the  stronghold  and  the  basis  of  operations  of  the  Con- 
stitutional party,  Dom  Miguel  having  vainly  attempted  to  cap- 
ture it  in  1829.  Here  the  Constitutionalists  were  assembled 
in  considerable  numbers,  and  from  here  they  sailed  with  a 
formidable  force  to  regain  possession  of  Portugal.  Landing  at 
Oporto  on  June  7,  1832,  they  soon  succeeded  in  defeating  the 


PART    I 


PORTUGAL  119 


forces  of  the  reactionists.  They  were  ably  assisted  by  Sir 
Charles  Napier,  a  distinguished  English  admiral ;  and  among 
the  Portuguese  themselves  were  soldiers  of  courage  and  ability. 
In  the  conflicts  between  Dom  Miguel  and  the  forces  of  the 
Constitutional  party  the  Duke  of  Saldanha  rendered  gallant 
and  efficient  service.  In  some  instances  the  fighting  was 
spirited  and  bloody;  for  the  reactionists  made  a  desperate 
effort  to  keep  control  of  the  kingdom.  But  in  the  end  they 
found  themselves  completely  overmatched  and  oiitgenerallod. 
On  May  26,  1834,  Dom  Miguel  surrendered,  and  formally 
renounced  all  claim  to  the  Portuguese  throne.  Five  days  later 
he  left  the  country,  never  to  return. 

Thus  Portugal  was  saved  from  the  rule  of  bigotry  and  intoler- 
ance, but  her  political  path  continued  for  a  time  to  be  troubled 
and  uncertain.  Por  the  nation  had  no  fixed  jjolitical  ideals, 
no  standards  of  sound  and  stable  government,  no  genuine  and 
persistent  spirit  of  progress.  Bigoted  Royalists,  moderate  Con- 
stitutionalists, and  radical  Republicans  contended  for  suprem- 
acy in  the  State  for  purely  personal  reasons,  while  those  who 
possessed  unselfish  devotion  to  political  principles  were  few  in 
number  and  often  without  influence.  Portugal  did  not  indeed 
suffer  from  the  long  reign  of  a  corrupt  and  shameless  monarch, 
as  Spain  did  under  Isabella  II. ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  none 
of  her  rulers  and  statesmen  knew  how  to  lead  her  into  the  ways 
of  settled  peace. 

It  was  not  under  the  most  promising  auspices,  then,  that 
Dom  Pedro  assumed  control  of  Portuguese  affairs.  Yet  all  that 
he  could  do  to  further  the  Liberal  cause  and  to  establish  order 
he  did  efficiently  and  promptly.  In  1833  he  restored  the  Con- 
stitution he  had  granted  in  1826.  After  the  downfall  of  Dom 
Miguel  he  influenced  the  Cortes  to  suppress  the  friars  who 
fomented  rebellion  in  the  country  villages,  and  to  declare  the 
Queen,  his  daughter  JNIaria,  of  age.  She  was  now  only  fifteen 
years  old,  but  he  felt  his  end  drawing  near,  and  on  September 
24,  1834,  only  nine  days  after  the  Queen's  majority  was  de- 
clared, he  succumbed  to  the  arduous  cares  and  labors  which 
for  several  years  had  been  his  lot. 

His  death  deprived  the  Queen  of  her  stanchest  supporter 
and  friend.  The  Duke  of  Palmella  and  other  able  ministers 
upheld  and  guided  her  to  the  best  of  their  ability,  but  they 


120  THE   LATIN   NATIONS  book  i 

were  not  able  to  save  the  kingdom  from  factional  warfare. 
One  rebellion  succeeded  another  all  through  her  reign,  which 
lasted  for  nineteen  years,  and  peace  was  only  restored  when 
England,  France,  and  Spain  came  to  the  assistance  of  the  Queen 
in  1847.  As  Dom  Pedro's  liberal  charter  had  been  set  aside 
during  this  turbulent  period,  the  Constitution  was  revised  by 
the  Cortes  in  1852,  and  approved  in  its  amended  form  by  Qiieen 
Maria,  who  caused  her  son,  the  heir  to  the  kingdom,  to  take 
oath  that  he  would  maintain  it.  In  the  following  year  Maria 
II.  died,  and  this  same  son  succeeded  to  the  throne.  Maria  was 
twice  married.  Her  first  husband.  Prince  August  of  Leuchten- 
berg,  died  in  1836,  only  three  months  after  his  marriage ;  and 
in  the  following  year  she  was  wedded  to  Prince  Ferdinand  of 
Coburg,  by  whom  she  had  several  children.  It  was  the  oldest 
of  them,  already  mentioned,  that  now  came  to  the  throne  as 
Pedro  V. ;  but  as  he  was  only  sixteen  years  of  age,  he  was 
for  two  years  under  the  regency  of  his  father.  Attaining  his 
majority  in  1857,  he  was  formally  inaugurated ;  but  four  years 
later  he  died  after  a  comparatively  quiet  and  uneventful  reign. 

He  was  succeeded  by  his  brother,  who  ruled  as  Luis  I.,  and 
under  whom  the  kingdom  made  considerable  progress  in  the  di- 
rection of  settled  order  and  parliamentary  government.  True, 
insurrections  were  not  unknown  and  ministerial  changes  were 
frequent ;  but  when  the  King  died  in  1889  he  left  the  country 
quiet  and  fairly  prosperous.  The  same  conditions  have  pre- 
vailed under  his  son,  Carlos  I.,  who  succeeded  him.  During 
the  closing  decade  of  the  century  Portugal  has  continued  to 
make  progress  slowly,  and  to  avoid  serious  internal  dissension. 
Constitutionalism  seems  to  have  become  firmly  rooted  in  Portu- 
guese soil,  and  the  monarchy  stands  apparently  secure.  For 
although  the  radical  Republicans  and  the  Socialists  are  active, 
the  conservative  party  is  strong  throughout  the  country,  and 
gives  the  existing  form  of  government  its  powerful  support. 

But  Portugal  needs  to  make  much  greater  progress  before 
her  people  can  fully  understand  and  appreciate  parliamentary 
government.  In  education  she  is  very  backward.  Her  citizens 
have  not  yet  learned  the  full  responsibilities  of  the  suffrage. 
The  country  is  burdened  also  by  a  heavy  debt,  which  hinders 
material  prosperity  and  stands  in  the  way  of  all  measures 
of   reform   that   call  for   a  large   expenditure.     The   debt   is 


PART    I 


PORTUGAL  121 


about  f!800,000,000,  while  tlie  population  is  only  a  little 
above  5,000,000.  The  area  of  the  country  is  36,038  square 
miles,  or  about  one  fifth  that  of  Spain. 

The  Constitution  of  Portugal  recognizes  four  powers  in  the 
State,  the  executive,  the  legislative,  the  judicial,  and  the  moder- 
ating authority.  The  executive  power  belongs  to  a  responsible 
Cabinet,  acting  under  the  Sovereign  ;  the  moderating  authority 
belongs  to  the  Sovereign,  who  can  veto  laws  unless  they  have 
been  passed  twice  by  both  Houses.  Of  the  two  legislative 
Chambers  the  Upper,  or  House  of  Peers,  consists  of  90  mem- 
bers appointed  for  life  by  the  King,  in  addition  to  the  princes 
of  the  blood  and  the  12  bishops  of  the  continental  dioceses; 
the  Lower  Chamber  consists  of  146  members  elected  for  four 
years  by  universal  suffrage.  The  State  religion  is  the  Roman 
Catholic,  but  all  others  are  tolerated. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

BELGIUM 

Exasperated  by  the  cruel  and  tyrannical  rule  of  Spain,  the 
Netherlands  revolted  in  1566  and  waged  a  fierce  warfare  for 
independence.  That  their  warfare  was  partially  successful  is 
well  known,  for  Motley's  brilliant  narrative  has  made  this 
struggle  one  of  the  familiar  events  of  history.  But  the  success 
that  attended  the  uprising  of  an  outraged  people  was  very  far 
from  complete.  The  seven  northern  provinces  of  the  ISTether- 
lands  proved  unconquerable,  and  Spain  practically  recognized 
their  independence  by  the  armistice  concluded  in  1609.  But 
the  southern  provinces  were  less  fortunate.  Overmastered  by 
that  brilliant  strategist,  Alexander  of  Parma,  they  finally  sub- 
mitted to  Spain  and  abandoned  their  aspirations  for  religious 
and  political  independence. 

Thus  the  Netherlands  became  divided  into  two  countries ; 
yet  the  division  was  a  natural  one.  It  was  not  merely  the 
genius  of  Alexander  of  Parma  that  brought  about  the  submis- 
sion of  the  southern  provinces.^  The  name  of  Belgium,  which 
was  given  to  this  southern  region  of  the  Netherlands,  suggests 
the  character  of  its  people,  for  it  dates  back  to  the  ancient 
Belgie,  who  were  one  of  the  Gallic  tribes.  In  process  of  time 
the  Belgse  became  mixed  with  the  Germans,  and  there  came  to 
be  two  imperfectly  blended  races  and  two  different  languages 
in  the  Belgic  country.  Some  of  its  inhabitants  were  Flemish 
and  spoke  the  Flemish  language ;  while  others  were  Walloons, 
and  used  a  speech  which  so  far  resembled  the  French  language 
that  it  was  finally  recognized  as  a  dialect  of  it.  And  these 
Walloons  were  Celtic  in  character  and  manners  as  in  speech. 

1  The  intrinsic  difficulties  in  the  way  of  a  union  between  the  Belgic  prov- 
inces and  tlie  Protestant  Netherlands  are  well  set  forth  in  Frederic  Harri- 
son's "  William  the  Silent,"  pp.  236,  237. 

122 


PART    I 


BELGIUM  123 


Excitable  and  passionate,  swayed  by  feeling  rather  than  by 
reason,  they  had  the  temper  of  the  Frenchman  rather  than  the 
German,  and  for  the  life  and  civilization  of  France  they  felt 
an  active  sympathy.  A  permanent  union  with  the  Dutch  prov- 
inces of  the  Netherlands  would  have  been  distasteful  to  them ; 
hence  their  submission  to  Spain  and  their  consequent  separa- 
tion from  the  Dutch  Republic  gave  them  an  opportunity  to 
develop  their  own  salient  race  characteristics.  As  their  move- 
ment for  religious  independence  was  a  failure,  they  retained 
the  Catholic  religion,  as  did  also  the  Flemings ;  who,  though 
they  differed  from  the  Walloons  in  temper  and  language,  were 
yet  content  to  share  their  political  destiny. 

Obliged  to  submit  to  Spain,  Belgium  remained  subject  to 
that  country  until  1713.  True,  Philip  assigned  the  province 
to  his  daughter  Isabel  and  her  husband  Albert  in  1598;  but 
this  period  of  independence  came  to  an  end  in  1G21.  But  as 
the  power  of  Spain  declined,  portions  of  Belgium  were  given 
up  to  France  during  the  seventeenth  century ;  and  the  whole 
country  was  ceded  to  Austria  by  the  Peace  of  Utrecht  in  1713. 
During  the  Austrian  War  of  Succession  Belgium  was  conquered 
by  the  French ;  but  they  restored  it  to  Austria  in  1748,  and 
for  nearly  half  a  century  longer  it  remained  a  part  of  Austria's 
composite  dominions.  In  1794,  however,  the  French  once  more 
obtained  possession  of  it,  aud  in  their  hands  it  remained  until 
Frauce  was  deprived  of  its  territorial  conquests  by  the  Treaty 
of  Paris  in  1814.  The  Congress  of  Vienna  now  assumed  the 
right  to  dispose  of  Belgium,  and  as  the  little  country  had  not 
had  an  independent  existence  for  centuries,  it  was  not  made 
into  a  kingdom,  but  was  incorporated  with  Holland.  Thus  the 
union  that  the  rebellion  against  Philip  had  failed  to  bring 
about  was  finally  accomplished.  The  Netherlands  now  made 
one  kingdom. 

But  the  union  proved  to  be  of  short  duration.  To  the  Flem- 
ings in  the  north  of  Belgium  it  gave  a  fair  degree  of  satis- 
faction;  to  the  Walloons  in  the  south  it  was  thoroughly 
distasteful.  Celtic  in  race,  Celtic  in  temper,  and  Celtic  in 
speech,  they  objected  to  forming  a  small  minority  in  a  Dutch 
country.  Their  discontent  only  increased  as  the  years  went 
by,  and  it  finally  took  the  form  of  open  rebellion  in  1830.  In 
this  movement  for  independence,  the  Flemings  were  ready  to 


124  THE   LATIN   NATIONS  book  i 

join,  and  accordingly  the  people  of  Belgium  established  a  pro- 
visional government  and  renounced  their  allegiance  to  Holland. 
As  their  union  with  that  country  had  been  a  source  of  continual 
irritation,  the  powers  did  not  frown  upon  these  national  aspira- 
tions, but  recognized  the  independence  of  Belgium  before  the 
end  of  1830.  But  Holland  was  by  no  means  disposed  to  lose 
so  goodly  a  part  of  its  domains.  In  defiance  of  the  action  of 
the  powers  it  took  steps  to  crush  the  insurgent  people,  and  to 
reestablish  its  authority  throughout  the  Belgian  territory. 
And  in  this  attempt  it  would  possibly  have  succeeded  if  it  had 
had  to  deal  with  Belgium  alone.  But  when  it  was  found  that 
Holland  intended  to  conquer  the  Belgians  by  force,  the  powers 
promptly  interfered.  France  sent  an  army  of  fifty  thousand 
men  to  help  the  struggling  people,  and  when  the  Dutch  proved 
refractory  and  refused  to  surrender  Antwerp,  that  city  was 
besieged  by  the  French  army.  Though  its  Dutch  garrison 
offered  a  brave  resistance,  it  was  compelled  to  surrender  on 
December  23,  1832 ;  and  with  this  capitulation  hostilities  were 
brought  to  an  end.  A  preliminary  convention  with  Holland 
was  arranged  on  May  21,  1833 ;  and  a  treaty  between  the  two 
countries  was  signed  on  April  19,  1839. 

Even  before  its  independence  was  secured  Belgium  looked 
about  for  a  king,  its  political  leaders  being  too  conservative  to 
wish  for  a  Republican  form  of  government.  The  choice  fell 
upon  the  Due  de  Nemours,  son  of  Louis  Philippe ;  but  as 
Louis  Philippe  would  not  consent  to  the  arrangement.  Prince 
Leopold  of  Saxe-Coburg  was  finally  selected,  and  on  July  19, 
1831,  he  entered  Brussels.  Two  days  later  he  was  crowned  as 
Leopold  I.  The  nature  of  the  kingdom  over  which  he  was 
established  was  clearly  defined  by  the  Constitution  which  was 
adopted  in  1831.  By  this  instrument  Belgium  was  declared  to 
be  "a  constitutional,  representative,  and  hereditary  monarchy" ; 
and  in  accordance  with  this  provision  a  parliament,  consisting 
of  a  Senate  and  Chamber  of  Representatives,  Avas  elected. 
But  though  representative  government  was  thus  established, 
the  representation  was  of  the  most  inadequate  character,  for 
hardly  a  tenth  of  the  adult  males  possessed  the  right  to  vote. 
Accordingly,  the  right  was  made  somewhat  more  general  by 
a  law  passed  in  1849 ;  but  it  was  still  restricted  to  a  small  por- 
tion of  the  population,  and,  owing  to  the  conservative  political 


PART  1  BELGIUM  125 

temper  of  the  country,  no  further  progress  was  made  in  this 
direction  for  a  considerable  period.  Long  after  some  other 
European  countries  had  granted  liberal  Constitutions  and  widely 
extended  the  franchise,  Belgium  still  clung  to  its  narrow  and 
oligarchical  system.  The  death  of  King  Leopold  in  1865,  and 
the  accession  of  his  son  to  the  throne  as  Leopold  II.,  caused  no 
pronounced  change  in  the  legislative  tendencies  of  the  nation. 

But  in  1879  there  was  brought  about  a  reform  that  led  to 
far-reaching  results.  For  secular  education  was  secured  in 
that  year ;  but,  far  from  proving  an  unmixed  blessing,  it  served 
to  rouse  the  Clerical  party  into  greater  activity,  and  to  tighten 
their  hold  upon  the  nation.  By  establishing  parochial  schools 
and  by  combating  Liberalism  in  every  possible  way,  the  Cleri- 
cals increased  their  prestige  and  influence ;  and  in  1884  they 
succeeded  in  getting  the  Government  under  their  control.  This 
control  they  preserved  by  the  most  adroit  political  methods, 
shaping  new  legislation  to  further  their  own  ends,  and  even 
forcing  Liberal  measures  to  contribute  to  their  party  suprem- 
acy. In  the  early  nineties  it  became  apparent  to  all  that  the 
franchise  must  be  extended,  for  in  the  industrial  districts  there 
were  heard  mutterings  of  a  gathering  storm.  Densely  popu- 
lated as  Belgium  is,  a  spirit  of  discontent  among  the  working- 
classes  easily  spreads  and  causes  general  excitement ;  and  the 
laborers  were  now  growing  turbulent  and  riotous,  for  they  were 
convinced  that  they  were  wronged  by  their  employers,  and 
that,  in  order  to  wage  war  with  capital  on  equal  terms,  they 
needed  the  right  of  suffrage.  Combining  to  secure  that  right, 
they  presented  a  formidable  front ;  and  as  their  demand  was 
endorsed  by  the  Liberal  party  and  was  in  accord  with  the  polit- 
ical tendencies  of  the  century,  it  was  granted  by  the  nation. 
In  1893  the  Constitution  was  amended  so  as  to  give  the  suffrage 
to  all  citizens  over  twenty-five  years  of  age  who  had  lived  as 
long  as  a  year  in  the  same  commune.  Universal  suffrage  was 
thus  adopted  ;  but  even  with  its  adoption  steps  were  taken  by  the 
Clericals  to  counteract  its  democratic  and  levelling  tendencies. 
For  an  extra  vote  was  given  to  married  men  of  thirtj'-five  who 
pay  a  tax  of  five  francs  and  who  have  children  to  support,  and 
also  to  substantial  property  owners ;  while  two  extra  votes 
were  given  to  citizens  of  twenty-five  who  have  completed  a 
course  at  some  higher  institution  of  learning. 


126  THE   LATIN   NATIONS  book  i 

As  the  educated  and  well-to-do  classes  in  Belgium  are  largely 
under  the  influence  of  the  Catholic  Church,  these  modifications 
of  the  right  of  suffrage  were  in  the  interest  of  the  Ultra- 
Montane  party ;  and  the  Clericals  themselves,  accordingly, 
were  not  surprised  at  the  results  of  the  first  elections  held 
under  these  new  political  conditions.  A  sweeping  Liberal  and 
Socialist  victory  had  indeed  been  expected  by  those  who  had 
not  noted  the  manoeuvres  of  the  Ultra-Montanes.  But  the  tide 
turned  in  the  opposite  direction.  Of  the  152  seats  in  the 
Chamber  of  Kepresentatives,  the  Liberals  obtained  only  15 
and  the  Socialists  33 ;  while  the  Clericals  secured  104.  Main- 
taining this  ascendency  in  subsequent  elections,  they  kept 
control  of  the  Government ;  and  so  encouraged  were  they  by 
their  success  that  they  devised  or  furthered  new  measures  to 
strengthen  their  power.  Fortune  indeed  seemed  sometimes  to 
befriend  them,  as  they  were  able  to  profit  by  appropriate  and 
needed  legislation.  In  1898  it  was  proposed  to  place  Flemish 
on  a  legal  equality  with  French,  which  had  been  the  official 
language  of  the  State  authorities  and  the  court  since  1794 ;  and 
although  this  was  only  an  act  of  justice,  considering  that  the 
Flemings  outnumbered  the  Walloons  in  the  kingdom,  it  was 
still  sure  to  help  the  cause  of  the  Clericals.^  For  it  is  among 
the  Flemings  that  Catholicism  has  its  strongest  hold  in  Bel- 
gium. The  measure  was,  therefore,  fiercely  combated  by  the 
Walloons,  but  they  were  unable  to  defeat  it,  for  it  seemed  to 
have  right  upon  its  side. 

Kot  so  much,  however,  could  be  said  in  favor  of  a  scheme 
which  the  Clericals  brought  forward  in  1899.  This  was  a  bill 
to  amend  parliamentary  representation ;  and  so  ingeniously 
was  it  framed  that  it  seemed  at  first  to  spring  from  the 
demand  for  electoral  reform  which  was  now  widespread  and 
continually  growing.  For  so  far  as  its  mere  wording  went, 
the  bill  seemed  innocent  and  even  just.  It  simply  provided 
for  a  proportional  or  juinority  representation  in  the  cities  that 
returned  more  than  three  deputies  apiece.  But  these  were  the 
very  cities  where  the  Clericals  were  in  a  minority,  and  by  the 
new  law  these  constituencies  would  be  taken  partially  out  of 
Liberal  control.  According  to  the  laws  that  were  in  force,  in 
case  there  was  not  a  complete  result  from  a  first  ballot,  a  sec- 

1  The  facts  regarding  the  language  question  are  given  on  page  128. 


PART  I  BELGIUM  127 

ond  ballot  was  allowed ;  and  when  the  second  ballot  was  taken 
the  Liberals  and  Socialists  were  accustomed  to  unite  on  that 
candidate,  no  matter  to  which  of  the  two  i:)arties  he  belonged, 
who  had  received  the  greatest  number  of  votes  on  the  first 
ballot.  Consequently,  as  they  could  always  outvote  the  Cleri- 
cals when  they  thus  combined,  they  were  sure  to  elect  their 
candidate  on  the  second  ballot.  But  the  new  law  took  away 
the  second  ballot,  and  gave  the  election  to  the  candidate  who 
had  the  most  votes  on  the  first  count. 

It  was  a  well-planned  scheme,  but  its  purport  was  immedi- 
ately understood,  and  it  roused  the  most  determined  opposi- 
tion of  the  Liberals  and  the  Socialists.  Indeed,  the  situation 
became  so  menacing  that  a  revolution  seemed  not  improbable ; 
and  a  revolution  might  have  resulted  in  the  overthrow  of  the 
reigning  dynasty,  and  in  a  general  European  embroilment.^ 
But  the  Clericals  thought  it  wise  to  quiet  the  storm  they  had 
raised.  Accordingly,  the  Government  announced  on  June  30, 
1899,  that  it  wished  for  time  to  consider  the  vexing  question 
that  was  before  the  nation,  and  it  therefore  requested  the 
Chamber  of  Representatives  to  adjourn  until  July  4.  To  this 
proposition  the  enemies  of  the  new  measure  gave  their  con- 
sent, and  the  country  was  immediately  quieted,  though  riots 
still  occurred  in  some  of  the  provinces :  On  July  4,  M.  Van 
den  Peereboom,  President  of  the  Council  and  INIinister  of  War, 
declared  that  the  Government  was  willing  to  refer  the  electo- 
ral problem  to  a  committee  made  up  from  all  parties,  and  that 
it  was  desirous  of  finding  a  satisfactory  solution.  As  this  pro- 
posal was  regarded  by  the  Socialists  as  a  practical  withdrawal 
of  the  offensive  bill,  they  gave  it  their  approval,  and  thus 
the  franchise  question  ceased  for  a  time  to  disturb  the  politics 
of  the  country.  But  it  was  sure  to  come  up  again  and  to 
occasion  trouble,  for  it  had  never  been  settled  in  a  fair  and 
equitable  manner.^ 

Yet  even  a  satisfactory  suffrage  law  could  hardly  heal  the 
dissensions  that  agitate  the  kingdom  and  render  the  throne 
insecure.     Those  racial  differences  which  have  so  long  created 

1  The  importance  of  the  crisis  is  set  forth  in  Public  Opinion,  27: 107. 

2  The  mere  statistics  of  the  election  lield  in  18'.)S  suffice  to  show  the  grave 
defects  of  the  system  tlien  existing;  for,  although  the  Liberals,  Radicals,  and 
Socialists  polled  '.«(), 2.H7  votes,  and  the  Clericals  993,857 ;  yet  the  Clericals 
elected  112  representatives  out  of  a  total  of  152. 


128  THE   LATIN   NATIONS  book  i 

divergence  of  action  and  opinion,  and  which  can  never  be 
eradicated,  are  the  true  cause  of  these  violent  political  antag- 
onisms. It  was  the  Walloons  who  brought  on  the  insurrection 
against  Holland  in  1830.  It  was  among  the  Walloons  that  the 
mining  strikes  occurred,  and  riotous  outbreaks  were  counte- 
nanced in  the  closing  decade  of  the  century.  And  it  was  the 
Walloons  again  who  nearly  caused  a  revolution  in  1899.  Liv- 
ing mostly  in  the  southern  provinces  of  Belgium  and  compris- 
ing the  industrial  portion  of  the  population,  they  have  caught 
the  spirit  of  discontent  that  is  now  rife  among  the  laboring 
classes  and  are  impregnated  with  socialistic  opinions ;  while 
the  Flemings  in  the  north  are  engaged  in  agriculture,  and  are, 
as  has  been  already  shown,  stanch  supporters  of  the  Clerical 
party.^  So  these  two  races  stand  pitted  against  each  other, 
and  how  far  their  warfare  will  go,  and  how  it  will  end,  it  is 
impossible  to  say.  The  difference  in  language  serves  to  in- 
tensify the  differences  in  race  and  feeling,  as  was  made  appar- 
ent in  1898,  when  Flemish  was  recognised  as  an  official  language 
(p.  126).  Retaining  their  Dutch  instincts  and  characteristics, 
the  Flemings  cling  to  their  Flemish  or  Dutch  speech;  while 
the  language  of  the  Walloons  is  really  a  French  dialect.  In 
1890  there  were  about  2,500,000  who  spoke  French  only,  and 
about  2,750,000  who  spoke  Flemish  only  ;  while  about  700,000 
spoke  both  of  these  languages. 

But,  in  spite  of  the  lack  of  harmony  between  these  two 
races,  Belgium  is  in  many  respects  a  progressive  and  enlight- 
ened country.  Primary  education  is  liberally  provided  for  by 
the  Government,  and  illiteracy  is  slowly  disappearing.  There 
also  exist  higher  institutions  of  learning,  including  four  uni- 
versities, which  are  well  supported.  Although  the  population 
is  chiefly  Catholic,  there  is  no  State  religion,  and  entire  reli- 
gious liberty  is  guaranteed  by  the  Constitution.  The  system 
of  justice  is  well  organized  and  complete;  trial  by  jury  was 
established  in  1831 ;  and  the  law  courts  are  conducted  with 
great  dignity  and  efficiency.^  The  debt  of  the  kingdom  is 
large,  amounting  to  about  $500,000,000 ;  but  this  sum  was  for 
the  most  part  raised  and  expended  to  promote  the  construction 
of  public  works,  especially  railways. 

The  members  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  152  in  number, 

1  MacmiUari  s  Magazine,  72: 1.  ^  xhe  Green  Bag,  8: 158. 


PART  I  BELGIUM  129 

are  elected  directly  for  four  years,  half  of  them  retiring  every 
two  years.  Of  the  senators  part  are  chosen  indirectly  by  pro- 
vincial councils,  part  directly  by  the  people.  The  number  of 
the  latter  class  must  equal  half  the  number  of  the  members  of 
the  Chamber  of  Kepresentatives.  The  two  parliamentary 
Chambers  are  convened,  prorogued,  and  dissolved  by  the  King. 
They  meet  annually  in  November  and  must  sit  for  not  less  than 
forty  days. 

Belgium  is  one  of  the  most  densely  populated  countries  in 
the  world.  It  has  an  area  of  11,373  square  miles,  and  over 
6,500,000  inhabitants. 


CHAPTER   IX 

TWO    MINOR    STATES 

San  Marino 

According  to  tradition,  a  stone  mason  named  Marinus,  desir- 
ing to  escape  from  the  persecutions  which  the  Christians  suffered 
under  Diocletian  early  in  the  third  century,  fled  from  Rimini 
to  Mount  Titano  of  the  Apennines,  built  himself  a  hut  upon  its 
summit,  and  lived  such  a  pious  and  holy  life  that  after  his 
death  he  was  accounted  a  saint.  About  the  spot  which  he 
chose  for  a  home  a  village  grew  up,  which  looked  upon  this 
holy  man  as  its  founder,  and  thence  took  the  name  of  San  Ma- 
rino. In  the  course  of  time  a  castle  was  built  to  give  the  vil- 
lage protection ;  and  this  castle,  as  the  people  of  San  Marino 
proudly  assert,  has  never  been  in  an  enemy's  hands. 

If  this  tradition  were  authentic,  the  Republic  of  San  Marino 
could  claim  a  history  extending  over  some  fifteen  hundred 
years  ;  but  it  cannot  be  proved  by  documentary  evidence  that 
it  existed  prior  to  885.  But  whatsoever  may  have  been  the 
date  of  its  origin,  it  was  destined  to  pass  through  troublous 
times  and  to  see  its  independence  more  than  once  assailed. 
Only  twelve  miles  to  the  north  was  the  city  of  Rimini,  where 
the  powerful  family  of  Malatesta  had  its  seat;  while  to  the 
south  was  the  rival,  and  as  the  sequel  showed,  still  stronger, 
family  of  Montefeltro.  San  Marino  could  not  keep  clear  of 
the  feud  that  existed  between  these  two  houses ;  but,  allying 
itself  by  good  fortune  with  that  of  Montefeltro,  it  ultimately 
reaped  the  rewards  of  victory.  In  the  thirteenth  century  the 
head  of  the  Montefeltro  house  became  Duke  Federigo  of  Ur- 
bino ;  and  in  1463  Duke  Federigo  of  Urbino  and  his  allies,  the 
King  of  Naples  and  the  Pope,  gave  San  Marino  additional  cas- 
tles and  the  villages  of  Faetano,  Sarravalle,  and  Montegiardino  in 

130 


PART   I 


SAN  MARINO  131 


return  for  efficient  services  rendered  them  in  their  wars  with 
the  house  of  Malatesta. 

But  this  increase  of  territory  did  not  prove  an  unmixed  bless- 
ing. Though  secured  against  the  encroachments  of  immediate 
neighbors,  San  Marino  roused  the  cupidity  of  the  papacy  itself. 
More  than  once  did  a  Pope  plan  to  get  possession  of  it ;  and  in 
1739  Cardinal  Alberoni  actually  asserted  papal  jurisdiction 
over  the  little  mountain  state.  This  claim,  however,  was 
promptly  repudiated  by  Clement  XII.  in  the  following  year. 
Hence,  in  spite  of  the  dangers  which  menaced  it,  the  Republic 
held  its  own  ;  and  even  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  when  he  was  mak- 
ing and  unmaking  governments  all  over  Italy,  respected  its 
independence.  It  was  the  memory  of  this  fact,  very  possibly, 
that  made  Napoleon  III.  protect  it  from  Pius  IX.  in  1854. 

While  the  Italians  were  struggling  for  unity  and  freedom, 
San  Marino  was  sometimes  placed  in  a  trying  position,  as  po- 
litical refugees  resorted  to  it  for  safety.  In  1849  the  Austrians 
threatened  to  invade  it  unless  it  gave  up  Garibaldi,  who  had 
taken  refuge  within  its  walls.  But  the  people  of  San  Marino, 
who  were  powerless  to  stand  out  against  the  Austrian  Empire 
and  were  yet  unwilling  to  betray  a  fellow  lover  of  liberty,  suc- 
ceeded in  obtaining  such  favorable  terms  for  Garibaldi  and  the 
few  devoted  followers  who  were  with  him  that  they  acceded 
to  the  Austrian  demand.  For  the  Austrians  promised  that 
they  would  give  Garibaldi  a  passport  to  America,  and  would 
allow  his  companions  to  return  to  their  homes  unmolested,  if 
they  would  first  deliver  up  their  arms.  But  this  fair  promise 
was  distrusted  by  the  shrewd  Italian  patriot,  Avho  had  had 
some  experience  with  Austrian  good  faith,  and  it  would  have 
been  well  for  his  followers  if  they  had  been  equally  sus- 
picious. Garibaldi  escaped  by  night  to  a  seaport,  and  thence 
made  his  way  across  the  water;  but  the  other  patriots,  who 
gave  themselves  up  to  the  Austrian  authorities  at  Rimini,  were 
promptly  imprisoned.  Italian  unity  was  finally  achieved,  but 
still  San  Marino  maintained  its  separate  existence,  and  it  did 
not  become  a  part  of  the  kingdom  of  Victor  Emmanuel.  The 
Italians,  themselves  ardent  supporters  of  republican  principles, 
were  unwilling  to  disturb  the  little  state  that  had  clung  to  its 
independence  for  a  thousand  years.  Accordingly,  while  ac- 
knowledging it  as  a  distinct  commonwealth,  they  took  it  under 


132  THE   LATIN  NATIONS  book  i 

their  protection,  and  the  kingdom  of  Italy  concluded  a  treaty 
of  friendship  with  it  in  1872. 

The  Constitution  of  the  Republic  was  much  changed  in  1847, 
but  still  retains  the  stamp  of  medisevalism.  Indeed,  as  An- 
dorra shows  us  a  patriarchal  system  of  government  rather 
than  a  democracy,  so  San  Marino  is  rather  an  oligarchy 
than  a  republic.  For  though  the  suffrage  belongs  to  all  men 
who  are  above  twenty-five  years  of  age,  nearly  all  power  is 
vested  in  a  Chamber  of  sixty  members  who  are  elected  for 
life,  and  who  are  entrusted  with  the  duty  of  nominating  can- 
didates for  the  office  of  President.  The  Presidents,  or  Reg- 
genti,  are  two  in  number  and  hold  office  for  only  six  mouths. 
So,  twice  every  year,  on  the  hrst  of  April  and  the  first 
of  October,  the  members  of  the  Chamber  nominate  six  of 
their  number,  and  every  voter  in  the  state  is  supplied  with 
a  ballot  on  which  are  written  two  of  the  six  names  selected. 
And  now  comes  a  peculiar  ceremony,  in  which  politics  and 
religion  and  superstition  are  strangely  blended.  For  the 
polling  place  is  the  cathedral  in  the  town  of  San  Marino, 
in  which  an  urn  is  placed  behind  the  high  altar ;  and  into 
this  urn  each  voter  drops  his  ballot  while  the  Te  Deum  is 
solemnly  chanted.  When  all  have  cast  their  votes,  a  child 
draws  a  ballot  from  the  urn  at  random  and  a  priest  proclaims 
that  the  two  whose  names  are  inscribed  upon  this  ballot  are 
the  Presidents  of  San  jNIarino.^  Besides  the  Chamber  of  sixty, 
there  is  also  an  executive  council  of  twelve,  two  thirds  of  whom 
go  out  every  year.  Like  Andorra,  San  Marino  hardly  knows 
crime,  and  its  prison  is  but  little  used.  It  has,  however,  a 
justiciary,  which  is  made  up  of  lawyers  siimmoned  from  the 
Roman  bar  to  sit  in  judgment  for  a  certain  period  every  year.^ 
For  the  citizens  of  this  small  state,  which  has  an  area  of 
thirty-two  square  miles  and  a  population  of  about  8000,  are 
too  well  acquainted  with  each  other  to  be  asked  to  pass  judg- 
ment upon  the  affairs  of  their  neighbors. 

Andorra 

In  the  eastern  stretches  of  the  Pyrenees  lies  a  tiny  state, 
only  twenty  miles  by  thirty  in  extent,  which  has  maintained 

1  Eclectic  Magazine,  129 :  G03.  2  xhe  Nation,  64 :  412. 


PART  I  ANDOREA  133 

its  independence  for  inore  tlian  six  hundred  years.  According 
to  tradition,  Andorra  was  established  by  Charlemagne  and  his 
son,  Louis  of  Aquitaine,  and  was  made  free  and  independent 
in  819,  because  it  assisted  one  of  Charlemagne's  lieutenants  in 
an  attack  upon  the  province  of  Urgel.  But  this  story  seems 
to  be  merely  an  unauthenticated  legend,  and  Andorra  undoubt- 
edly owes  its  rights  of  self-government  to  one  of  those  strange 
chances  of  which  history  is  so  full.  In  the  thirteenth  century 
it  was  under  the  suzerainty  of  the  Count  of  Foix,  and  at  the 
same  time  it  owed  a  certain  measure  of  allegiance  to  the  Bishop 
of  Urgel.  As  these  two  overlords  each  claimed  entire  con- 
trol of  the  little  state,  their  respective  rights  were  determined 
by  arbitration  in  1278,  and  thus  Andorra  was  saved  from  ren- 
dering complete  submission  to  either  of  its  feudal  masters. 

As  the  Count  of  Foix  rendered  homage  to  the  King  of  France, 
the  rights  he  exercised  over  Andorra  were  acquired  by  'the 
latter  country,  and  have  been  maintained  to  the  present  day. 
The  French  Republic  keeps  a  Viguier,  or  Agent,  not  far  from 
the  borders  of  Andorra,  who  is  appointed  for  life,  and  who  has 
a  certain  measure  of  control  over  the  administration  of  justice 
in  the  little  Republic.  A  similar  right  is  still  exercised  by 
the  Bishop  of  Urgel,  but  his  agent  must  be  a  citizen  of  Andorra 
and  is  appointed  for  only  three  years.  Thus  the  Republic  of 
Andorra  has  never  acquired  absolute  freedom  ;  but  these  feudal 
rights,  which  date  from  the  Middle  Ages,  have  grown  more 
and  more  shadowy  with  the  lapse  of  centuries,  while  the  right 
of  self-government  has  been  vigorously  asserted  and  exercised. 
For  the  people  of  the  country,  who  nTimber  only  about  six 
thousand,  are  its  rulers.  They  are  divided  into  six  parishes, 
and  each  of  these  parishes  sends  four  delegates  every  year  to 
the  palace  in  the  village  of  Andorra.  These  twenty-four 
delegates,  who  are  elected  for  four  years,  constitute  a  Council, 
which  chooses  a  President,  or  Syndic,  and  is  vested  with  legis- 
lative powers.  But  so  far  does  the  patriarchal  spirit  prevail 
that  the  Council  defers  greatly  to  the  wisdom  and  authority 
of  the  President,  and  expects  him  to  take  the  initiative  in 
bringing  forward  new  measures  and  proposals.  When  a  matter 
is  to  be  decided,  the  members  vote,  not  individually,  but  by 
parishes ;  and  the  President  has  a  casting  vote.  The  same 
conservative  spirit  is  shown  in  determining  the  rights  of  suf- 


134  THE    LATIN   NATIONS  book  i 

frage  and  of  citizenship.  Only  heads  of  families  can  sit  in 
the  Council  or  vote  for  its  members,  though  a  man  who  is  over 
sixty  years  of  age  can  transfer  his  right  of  voting  to  a  son. 
Nor  does  a  more  unrestricted  suffrage  seem  anywise  necessary 
when  one  considers  the  simplicity  of  the  whole  machinery  of 
government  and  the  exceedingly  small  volume  of  public  busi- 
ness that  is  transacted.  There  are  only  four  or  five  state 
officials ;  a  poll-tax  on  sheep  and  goats,  and  a  tax  on  corn 
supply  all  the  revenue  that  is  needed  by  the  Republic ;  the 
prison  seldom  has  an  occupant ;  civil  suits  are  infrequent  and 
are  easily  settled. 

Such  is  the  government  of  the  so-called  Republic  of  Andorra. 
Its  patriarchal  character  reflects  the  life  and  manners  of  a 
simple  people  who  cling  fast  to  ancient  usages  and  ancient 
habits  of  thought.  They  have  made  no  advance  in  education 
and  have  contributed  nothing  to  science,  art,  or  letters.  Even 
the  magnates  and  landowners  of  Andorra  are  merely  patri- 
archal peasants  who  dress  like  common  laborers,  are  contented 
with  the  rudest  dwellings,  and  kuow  no  other  riches  than 
flocks  and  herds.  Even  more  primitive  is  the  life  of  the  ordi- 
nary peasant.  His  abode  is  nothing  more  than  a  hovel,  which 
is  sometimes  perched  on  a  steep  mountain  side,  in  the  path  of 
the  avalanche  and  exposed  to  wind  and  storm.  There  he  lies 
down  at  night  on  his  bed  of  skins,  undisturbed  by  the  howling 
of  the  wolves  which  have  not  wholly  ceased  to  haunt  the 
mountain  wilds.  Thus  life  flows  on  unchanging  in  this  se- 
cluded little  country,  and  the  strenuous  thought  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  has  not  wakened  these  primitive  peasants 
from  their  mediaeval  slumbers.  Their  Republican  form  of 
government  does  not  owe  its  existence  to  the  French  Revolu- 
tion or  to  the  spirit  of  modern  progress.  It  springs  from  the 
temper  of  a  sturdy  mountain  race.  It  is  a  survival,  not  a  new 
creation.  Only  by  courtesy  is  it  included  in  a  study  of  the 
growth  of  democracy  in  the  nineteenth  century. 


Part  II 

SOUTHEASTERN  EUROPE  AND  RUSSIA 

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY   (Liechtenstein) 
SERVIA  BULGARIA 

GREECE  MONTENEGRO 

RUMANIA  TURKEY 

RUSSIA 


CHAPTER   I 

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 

The  history  of  France  shows  how  various  Celtic  tribes  lying 
between  the  Ehine  and  the  Pyrenees  were  fused  into  a  nation. 
The  history  of  Germany  is  a  story  of  the  growth  of  a  people 
and  of  their  final  imion  into  one  powerful  state.  Similarly, 
Italian  history  tells  how  states  related  by  blood,  but  long  dis- 
severed, were  at  last  united  into  a  kingdom.  But  the  history 
of  Austria  presents  a  very  different  record.  It  tells  how  races 
of  different  blood  have  been  imperfectly  amalgamated  by  con- 
quest, and  have  remained  dissentient  and  jealous  of  each  other. 
The  condition  of  Austria-Hungary  to-day  cannot  be  under- 
stood without  a  brief  statement  of  its  earlier  history. 

Austria  properly  comprises  a  portion  of  that  tract  which  was 
in  ancient  times  known  as  Noricum  and  Pannonia.  In  this 
district  German  peoples  settled,  and  were  forced  by  the  course 
of  events  into  fulfilling  a  peculiar  destiny.  For  their  geo- 
graphical position  brought  them  into  close  and  vital  connection 
with  non-Germanic  races.  The  region  to  the  east  of  them  was 
the  meeting-ground  of  various  peoples.  It  had  always  its  native 
populations,  and  into  it  flowed  successive  Avaves  of  migration 
and  conquest.  Here  dwelt  Poles,  Vlachs,  and  Slavs ;  and  here 
Saxons,  Jews,  and  Magyars  found  their  way,  and  the  Turks 
again  and  again  sent  their  invading  hosts.  Thus  the  Germans 
who  dwelt  upon  the  western  confine  of  this  disputed  territory 
held  a  position  of  great  importance.  They  formed  a  barrier 
against  the  turbulence  of  that  unquiet  region  and  the  tides  of 
barbarism  that  sometimes  rolled  across  it.  So,  at  an  early 
period,  this  outpost  of  the  Teutonic  civilization  began  to 
develop  power  and  strength.  Charlemagne  divided  the  tract 
and  made  its  rulers  margraves.  To  the  further  portion  he 
gave  the  term  "  Oesterreich  "  (Eastern  Kingdom),  whence  the 

137 


138  SOUTHEASTERN   EUROPE   AND   RUSSIA  book  i 

name  Austria.  The  margraviate  of  Austria  was  made  an 
hereditary  duchy  in  1156.  In  1278  it  passed  under  the  rule 
of  Rodolf,  Count  of  Hapsburg,  who  was  also  Emperor  of  Ger- 
many. From  this  time  on  it  grew  in  importance  and  splendor, 
and  began  to  overshadow  the  other  German  states.  In  1453  it 
was  raised  to  an  archduchy  ;  and  shortly  afterward  the  Haps- 
burg line,  which  still  possessed  it,  gained  new  distinction.  For 
the  headship  of  the  Empire,  which  had  already  been  given  to 
Count  Rodolf,  passed  permanently  to  the  Hapsburgs  in  1493. 
Hence  the  fortunes  of  Austria  became  linked  to  those  of  a 
great  imperial  house,  and  under  this  line  of  emperors  it  gained 
in  power  and  territory.  In  1526  it  acquired  possession  of  Bohe- 
mia and  Hungary.  But  through  these  very  accessions  of 
strength  it  was  preparing  the  way  for  future  trouble.  Bohe- 
mia was  populated  by  Slavs  and  Hungary  by  Magyars,  a  Fin- 
nish people  belonging  to  the  Turanian  family.  And  thus 
begins  the  problem  of  uniting  diverse  peoples  under  one  rule, 
a  problem  that  was  to  grow  more  difficult  and  intricate  as  new 
accessions  of  territory  were  made.  Moreover,  in  bringing 
alien  peoples  under  her  sway,  Austria  was  entering  upon  a 
career  that  was  destined  to  assume  sharp  contradictions.  Her 
interests  became  closely  identified  with  those  of  her  subject 
races.  She  became  more  vitally  connected  with  Slavs  and 
Magyars  than  with  Germans ;  and  she  remained  intensely 
Catholic,  while  North  Germany  adopted  the  Protestant  faith. 
Thus  her  civilization  ceased  to  be  peculiarly  Germanic.  The 
most  powerful  German  state  lost  its  claim  to  be  the  leader  of 
Germany.  All  this,  however,  was  only  to  be  made  apparent 
by  time.  The  fortunes  of  Austria  varied  with  the  fortunes  of 
war  and  with  repeated  redivisions  of  territory  between  herself 
and  neighboring  powers.  But  her  possessions  rather  increased 
than  diminished  up  to  the  time  when  the  Holy  Roman  Empire 
was  brought  to  an  end  in  1806.  After  that  date  her  ruler  could 
no  longer  wear  the  title,  "Emperor  of  Germany."  But  in  1804 
the  head  of  the  Hapsburg  House,  who  had  reigned  over  the 
Empire  as  Francis  II.,  was  entitled  Francis  I.  of  Austria,  and 
was  declared  hereditary  Emperor.  Thus  Austria,  from  being 
originally  a  margraviate,  had  become  an  empire.  It  was  not, 
like  the  Holy  Roman  Em])ire,  made  up  chiefly  of  German 
people.    It  embraced  Slavs,  Poles,  Magyars,  Wallachians,  Jews, 


PART  II  AUSTRIA-HUNGARY  139 

Italians,  and  mixed  races,  as  well  as  Germans.  But  it  was 
poj)ulous,  great,  and  splendid,  and  its  sovereigns  belonged  to 
one  of  the  great  and  powerful  dynasties  of  Europe. 

The  new  empire  was  indeed  rudely  handled  by  Napoleon. 
He  routed  its  armies,  curtailed  its  territory,  and  destroyed  its 
dominant  influence  in  Germany  by  forming  the  Confederation 
of  the  Rhine.  But  after  Napoleon's  overthrow  Austria  regained 
her  old  prestige.  The  possessions  she  had  lost  in  Italy  were 
restored  to  her  with  some  additions,  so  that  Lombardy,  Vene- 
tia,  and  the  Tyrol  became  a  part  of  her  domains.  Bohemia 
and  other  Slavic  states  still  belonged  to  her,  and  Hungary  con- 
tinued to  recognize  her  sovereignty.  Altogether  her  popula- 
tion was  about  twenty-five  millions,  and  made  her  the  most 
conspicuous  and  powerful  of  all  the  German  states.  For 
Prussia,  the  only  one  that  could  rival  her,  had  but  eight  mill- 
ion people.  Naturally,  therefore,  Austria  assumed  a  com- 
manding influence  in  the  newly  formed  German  Confederation. 
To  her  was  given  the  presidency  of  its  Diet  and  habitual  defer- 
ence in  the  conduct  of  affairs.  And  this  honor  was  not  an 
empty  one,  for  the  Confederation  comprised  thirty-seven  states 
and  a  population  of  over  thirty  millions. 

Moreover,  the  abilities  of  Metternich  gave  Austria  a  peculiar 
prominence  in  Europe.  For  Metternich  really  controlled  the 
Holy  Alliance  and  kept  it  strictly  to  its  work  of  protecting 
the  divine  right  of  kings.  Hence,  through  the  agency  of  that 
astute  statesman,  Austria  became  the  champion  of  absolutism 
and  the  uncompromising  enemy  of  democracy. 

Her  name,  therefore,  came  to  be  unpleasantly  associated  with 
despotism.  Until  the  close  of  the  war  with  Prussia,  in  1866, 
Austria  was  regarded  as  an  unprogressive  and  tyrannical 
power.  Her  chief  ambition  was  to  wield  a  commanding  influ- 
ence in  Germany  and  with  the  Holy  Alliance.  Her  chief  task 
was  to  suppress  revolutions  throughout  Europe. 

But  in  neither  of  these  aims  was  she  successful,  though  she 
maintained  her  power  and  prestige  undiminished  for  many 
years.  Indeed,  through  the  activity  of  Metternich  she  acquired 
additional  influence  and  authority.  For  again  and  again  she 
crushed  popular  uprisings  in  neighboring  states,  and  her  name 
became  a  terror  to  the  lovers  of  constitutional  freedom.  And 
for  a  considerable  time  she  kept  her  own  territory  free  from 


140  SOUTHEASTERN   EUROPE   AND   RUSSIA  book  i 

insurrection.  Though  the  people  of  adjoining  states  took  arms 
to  win  their  liberty,  her  own  subjects  remained  quiet  under  her 
stern  and  repressive  sway.  Yet  even  Metternich  could  not 
keep  the  revohitionary  movement  out  of  Austria.  He  did  all 
he  could  toward  that  end.  Throughout  the  whole  Austrian 
territory  the  people  were  kept  in  ignorance;  the  press  was 
controlled ;  the  police  inspired  terror  by  their  activity.  And 
degraded  and  uneducated  as  the  people  were,  Metternich  felt 
sure  that  nothing  was  to  be  apprehended  from  them.  But  in 
spite  of  the  rigid  surveillance  under  which  they  were  kept, 
they  understood  their  own  wrongs,  and  they  grew  ever  more 
discontented.  They  had  no  rights  and  privileges,  and  they 
had  to  bear  the  burden  of  taxation  in  order  to  support  the 
favored  few.  So  in  secret  they  nursed  their  resentment, 
plotted  the  overthrow  of  the  existing  regime,  and  awaited  the 
signal  of  revolution. 

The  signal  came  in  1848.  When  the  people  of  Austria  heard 
that  Louis  Philippe  had  been  forced  to  abdicate,  they  became 
clamorous  for  constitutional  government.  An  insurrection 
broke  out  in  Vienna.  Prince  Metternich's  palace  was  assaulted 
and  the  Prince  was  obliged  to  flee  from  the  country.  The 
Emperor  Ferdinand  was  frightened  into  making  liberal  con- 
cessions. He  promised  to  allow  the  press  its  freedom,  to  grant 
universal  suffrage,  convene  a  popular  assembly,  and  set  free 
jDolitical  prisoners.  But  finding  that  even  these  concessions 
did  not  restore  quiet,  he  secretly  left  Vienna. 

After  his  withdrawal  the  popular  Assembly  met,  and  under 
its  tranquillizing  influence  the  Emperor  ventured  to  return. 
But  his  stay  was  short.  A  second  uprising  soon  occurred. 
The  insurgents  captured  the  arsenal  and  murdered  the  aged 
Minister  of  War.  So  the  Emperor  once  more  betook  himself 
to  flight. 

But  the  revolutionary  movement  did  not  confine  itself  to 
Vienna.  The  Italians  in  North  Italy  rose  to  gain  their  free- 
dom. Hungary  had  long  chafed  under  Austrian  rule  and  now 
endeavored  to  break  away  from  it  entirely.  And  Bohemia  and 
Silesia  were  in  revolt,  for  the  Slavs  as  well  as  the  Hungarians 
disliked  the  Austrian  yoke  and  cherished  longings  for  inde- 
pendence. 

Thus  the  prospects  of  the  Empire  were  indeed  gloomy,  and, 


PART  II  AUSTRIA-HUNGARY  141 

unfriended,  it  could  hardly  have  escaped  dissolution.  The 
Slavs  and  the  Italians  were  repressed  without  great  ditficulty. 
But  the  insurrection  of  Vienna  was  of  a  most  formidable  char- 
acter, and  it  was  only  by  the  aid  of  the  Ban  of  Croatia  that  the 
Emperor  succeeded  in  recapturing  his  rebellious  capital.  The 
insurgents  were  well  organized  and  determined,  and  they 
refused  to  surrender  even  when  threatened  with  bombard- 
ment. But  the  Croatian  army  of  thirty  thousand,  combined 
with  the  Emperor's  forces,  was  too  strong  for  them.  The 
threatened  bombardment  took  place.  A  terrible  slaughter 
occurred  within  the  city  walls,  and  the  insurrection  was 
brought  to  a  bloody  termination.  But  the  Emperor  dared  not 
resume  his  sway  over  subjects  who  had  offered  him  such  fierce 
resistance.  He  resigned  his  throne  to  his  nephew,  Francis 
Joseph,  and  lived  in  retirement  for  nearly  thirty  years,  his 
death  not  occurring  until  1875. 

More  formidable  still  was  the  revolt  in  Hungary.  The 
people  of  this  country  numbered  several  millions,  and  they 
were  animated  by  an  ardent  love  of  freedom.  Long  centuries 
of  alien  rule  had  not  killed  their  aspirations  to  be  an  inde- 
pendent nation.  Excitable,  intense,  and  passionate,  they  were 
now  thrilled  with  the  desire  to  become  a  self-governing  people. 
Toward  Austria  they  cherished  no  feeling  of  loyalty  or  grati- 
tude. Her  rule  had  been  harsh  and  oppressive.  The  peasantry 
had  been  taxed  heavily  and  deprived  of  all  political  rights  and 
privileges.  The  poor  man  did  everything  for  the  State,  while 
the  State  did  nothing  for  him  but  reduce  him  to  serfdom.  For 
the  nobility  possessed  such  extensive  poAvers  that  they  could 
rule  like  feudal  lords  over  the  lower  classes  and  prevent  them 
from  growing  into  a  strong  and  vigorous  third  estate.  Yet  the 
nobles  as  well  as  the  peasantry  were  now  ready  to  take  arms 
for  independence ;  for,  in  spite  of  the  privileges  allowed  them, 
they  had  not  been  free  to  develop  their  own  national  traits 
and  characteristics.  Austria  had  steadily  tried  to  crush  the 
individuality  of  the  entire  Hungarian  people,  and  to  mould 
noble  and  peasant  alike  into  conformity  with  her  own  Germanic 
civilization.  But  this  coercive  policy  was  deeply  resented  by 
all  classes,  and  made  all  unite  in  the  effort  to  throw  off  the 
Austrian  supremacy. 

There  were  Slavs  and  (lermaus  in  Hungary  who  resisted  the 


142  SOUTHEASTERN   EUROPE   AND   RUSSIA  book  i 

Magyar  movement,  but  in  spite  of  tliem  it  promised  to  be 
successful.  A  national  assembly  had  been  granted  by  the 
Emperor  Ferdinand,  and  it  found  efficient  leaders  and  took 
vigorous  measures  to  maintain  the  cause  of  Hungary  by  arms. 
Louis  Kossuth  and  Francis  Deak  were  among  its  most  promi- 
nent members,  and  the  former  was  made  Governor-General  of 
the  country.  And  in  Klapka,  Bem,  and  Gorgei,  the  Hunga- 
rians found  able  generals.  Under  their  leadership  the  Hun- 
garians won  several  victories.  Austria  was  hardly  able  to 
cope  with  the  rebellious  people.  Hungary  seemed  likely  to 
become  a  nation.  And  yet  on  the  eve  of  success  came  utter 
disaster.  The  generals  did  not  cooperate  properly  with  each 
other  and  with  the  civil  authorities ;  and  along  with  internal 
dissensions  came  foreign  intervention.  Russia  was  unwilling 
to  see  a  free  nation  established  on  her  very  borders.  She  sent 
her  troops  to  aid  those  of  Austria,  and  the  Hungarians  were 
soon  completely  vanquished.  Their  armies  surrendered.  Some 
of  their  leading  generals  were  put  to  death.  But  Kossuth 
escaped  to  Turkey,  which  refused  to  give  him  up  to  Austria  or 
Russia  in  spite  of  their  urgent  demands. 

Eebellion  was  everywhere  crushed.  Austria  had  reestab- 
lished her  authority  through  the  length  and  breadth  of  her 
domains.  Slavs,  Poles,  Magyars,  and  Germans  were  all  alike 
held  in  subjection  to  her  repressive  rule.  For  though  the 
regime  of  Metternich  had  ended,  and  though  a  liberal  Constitu- 
tion had  been  granted  by  the  new  Emperor,  guaranteeing  a 
national  parliament,  household  suffrage,  freedom  for  the  press, 
freedom  in  religion,  and  universal  education,  yet  the  govern- 
ment soon  drifted  back  into  its  old  despotic  ways.  Francis 
Joseph  was  by  no  means  an  unprogressive  ruler.  As  new 
crises  arose,  he  showed  the  ability  of  the  statesman  in  rising 
to  them  and  in  shaping  his  policy  to  existing  needs.  But  he 
was  only  eighteen  years  old  when  he  began  to  reign ;  the 
traditions  of  his  Empire  were  all  in  favor  of  absolutism ;  and 
his  success  in  finally  suppressing  insurrection  blinded  him  to 
the  danger  of  coercing  the  popular  will.  Consequently,  on 
December  31, 1851,  he  revoked  the  Constitution  he  had  granted 
less  than  three  years  earlier,  though  the  clauses  in  favor  of 
education  were  allowed  to  remain  in  force.  Children  between 
the  ages  of  six  and  twelve  were  obliged  to  attend  school.     In 


PART  II  AUSTRIA-HUNGARY  143 

1852  trial  by  jury  was  abolished;  and  in  1855  a  Concordat  was 
arranged  with  the  Vatican  which  gave  the  Pope  a  considerable 
control  in  the  affairs  of  the  Empire. 

In  thus  abandoning  the  path  of  liberalism,  Anstria  forfeited 
her  right  to  lead  and  nnify  the  German  people.  For  a  time, 
indeed,  her  power  and  prestige  seemed  to  remain  nnshaken. 
She  still  retained  the  presidency  of  the  Diet  of  the  Confedera- 
tion. She  was  much  superior  to  every  other  German  state  in 
size  and  population,  and,  as  she  confidently  supposed,  in  mili- 
tary strength.  But  as  the  years  passed,  she  received  one  rude 
fihock  after  another,  and  finally  abandoned  her  despotic  ways, 
only  to  find  herself  excluded  from  the  new  German  nation. 
In  1859  she  lost  Lombardy  through  her  inability  to  cope  with 
Napoleon  in  North  Italy.  Startled  by  this  reverse,  she  partially 
realized  the  need  of  a  more  liberal  form  of  rule.  Three  Con- 
stitutions were  granted  in  quick  succession  during  the  years  of 
18G0  and  1861.  None  of  them,  however,  proved  adequate,  and 
the  policy  and  the  character  of  the  government  remained  practi- 
cally unchanged.  In  18G4  occurred  the  war  with  Denmark.  The 
combined  Austrian  and  Prussian  armies-  easily  overcame  the 
resistance  of  the  Danes,  and  the  war  was  on  too  small  a  scale  to 
enable  Austria  to  discern  the  vast  military  strength  of  her  ally. 

She  was  therefore  unprepared  for  the  crushing  defeats  of 
1866  and  she  was  deeply  humiliated  by  them.  At  the  same 
time  they  proved  a  benefit.  They  deprived  Austria  of  leader- 
ship in  Germany ;  they  brought  home  to  her  the  need  of  admin- 
istrative and  constitutional  reforms.  And  trying  as  it  was  to 
be  excluded  from  the  new  league  of  German  states,  it  was 
doubtless  for  her  good  that  this  should  be  so.  Austria  was 
attempting  to  perform  a  double  national  function  and  the  task 
was  altogether  beyond  her  powers.  She  was  reaching  west- 
ward and  northward  and  trying  to  hold  all  Germany  within 
her  grasp ;  and  at  the  same  time  she  was  reaching  eastward 
and  compelling  Slavs,  Poles,  Magyars,  and  Rumanians  to 
submit  to  a  not  wholly  welcome  rule.  Each  of  these  aims  was 
an  ambitious  one.  Either  of  them  was  vast  enough  to  tax  the 
fiill  resources  of  the  Hapsburg  House.  It  was  Avell,  therefore, 
that  one  of  them  should  be  made  forever  impossible,  and  that 
all  the  energies  of  the  nation  should  be  devoted  to  the  one 
remaining. 


144  SOUTHEASTERN   EUROPE   AND   RUSSIA  book  i 

Excluded  from  Germany,  Austria  endeavored  to  strengthen 
her  sway  over  her  strangely  composite  dominions.  Her  Em- 
peror and  statesmen  realized  that  radical  reforms  were  neces- 
sary. The  spirit  of  progress  was  in  the  air.  Prussia  had 
usurped  the  lead  in  Germany  by  enterprise,  shrewd  diplomacy, 
and  thoroughly  efficient  administration.  Austria  must  follow 
her  example,  if  she  would  keep  her  place  among  the  great  Euro- 
pean nations.  The  various  races  over  which  she  ruled  could  no 
longer  be  kept  in  subjection  by  crude  force.  The  day  of  abso- 
lutism had  gone  by.  Even  the  autocratic  Tsar  of  Russia  was 
finding  that  his  throne  stood  upon  a  quaking  soil.  The  Aus- 
trian Empire  could  only  stand  secure  by  giving  its  subjects  a 
liberal  and  enlightened  rule. 

In  inaugurating  such  a  rule,  Francis  Joseph  found  an  able 
assistant  in  Baron  von  Beust  of  Saxony,  who  had  removed  to 
Vienna  after  the  Austrian  rout  at  Koniggratz.  Von  Beust  had 
always  been  a  friend  and  hearty  admirer  of  Austria.  Her 
claims  to  leadership  in  German  affairs  he  had  steadily  en- 
dorsed, while  Prussia  and  Bismarck  had  found  in  him  a  deter- 
mined opponent.  In  recognition  of  his  services  the  Emperor 
now  made  him  Foreign  Minister  and  soon  elevated  him  to  the 
Chancellorship  in  spite  of  his  Protestant  faith.  A  broad  states- 
man, though  not  a  great  one,  he  urged  liberal  measures  from 
the  beginning  of  his  new  diplomatic  career.  By  his  advice  a 
new  Constitution  was  proclaimed.  Independence  was  granted 
to  Hungary,  and  Francis  Joseph  and  his  imperial  consort  were 
crowned  King  and  Queen  of  Hungary  at  Budapest.  Civil 
marriages  were  made  legal.  The  army  was  strengthened  and 
brought  to  a  high  state  of  efficiency.  The  Concordat  with  the 
Pope  was  cancelled.  But  to  the  Slavs  von  Beust  would  grant 
no  concessions,  and  they  grew  clamorous  against  him.  Like 
the  Hungarians,  they  craved  independence,  and  now  that 
Hungary  was  a  separate  kingdom,  they  were  indignant  that 
their  own  demands  were  unheeded.  In  the  national  Reichsrath 
the  Slavs  and  the  Germans  became  bitterly  hostile  to  each  other. 
A  political  crisis  seemed  imminent.  Hence,  in  order  to  remove 
dissension,  von  Beust  resigned  on  November  6,  1871.  He  had 
been  made  a  count  in  1868  and  he  was  now  sent  to  London 
as  a  foreign  ambassador.  His  name  will  always  be  associated 
with  the  beginning  of  Austria's  new  and  liberal  regime. 


PART  II  AUSTRIA-HUNGARY  145 


Count  Andrassy,  a  Hungarian  statesman,  was  appointed  his 
successor  with  the  title,  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  and  of  the 
Imperial  Household  for  the  whole  monarchy.  In  1879,  Count 
Andrassy  resigned  and  was  succeeded  by  Baron  Haymerle, 
whose  administration  only  lasted  till  1881.  Count  Kalnoky 
was  then  appointed  to  the  vacant  position,  and  he  filled  it 
with  such  eminent  ability  that  he  was  continued  in  the  office 
for  fourteen  years.  He  was  followed  by  Count  Golchowski 
in  1895.  Under  these  various  ministers  the  Dual  Monarchy 
prospered  and  made  progress  in  many  directions.  But  so  dis- 
tinct are  the  affairs  of  Austria  and  Hungary  that  they  demand 
a  separate  treatment.  For  each  monarchy  has  its  own  govern- 
ment, its  own  policy,  its  own  peculiar  problems  to  face  and 
difficulties  to  overcome.  Of  the  two  countries  Austria,  as  hav- 
ing the  more  distinguished  history,  may  first  engage  attention. 

By  the  Constitution  which  had  been  granted  during  von 
Beust's  administration  the  government  of  Austria  was  partially 
placed  in  the  hands  of  the  people.  But  for  a  time  the  members 
of  the  lower  Reichsrath,  or  popular  assembly,  were  chosen  by 
the  Diets  of  the  different  provinces  of  the  empire,  and  not 
directly  by  the  voters  of  the  nation.  After  a  few  years  this 
method  was  changed,  but  the  suffrage  Avas  not  made  universal. 
Four  groups  of  electors  were  established,  and  a  property  quali- 
fication was  required.  Hence  the  total  number  of  voters  was 
not  large  when  compared  with  the  total  number  of  male  adults 
in  the  Empire.  Nor  was  the  Lower  House  able  to  exercise  full 
control  over  affairs.  Constitutionally  it  possessed  unlimited 
legislative  power,  but  this  power  the  Emperor  was  sometimes 
able  to  usurp.  For  so  many  factions  existed  that  it  was  almost 
always  possible  for  him  to  form  a  combination  in  his  own  favor 
which  would  have  a  majority  in  the  House. 

That  parliamentary  government  should  not  at  once  work 
perfectly  was  the  natural  result  of  the  long  years  of  despotic 
rule.  Equally  natural  was  it  that  the  standard  of  official 
integrity  should  not  be  high.  Those  who  received  civil  ap- 
pointments regarded  their  positions  as  sources  of  private  gain. 
They  held  the  medieval  idea  of  government,  believing  that  it 
existed  for  the  benefit  of  a  privileged  few.  They  could  not 
understand  that  public  office  was  a  public  trust. 

No  more  could  the  Government  itself  shake  off  mediaeval 


146  SOUTHEASTERN   EUROPE   AND   RUSSIA  book  i 

traditions  and  thoroughly  abandon  despotic  ways.  It  still 
considered  that  the  people  needed  to  be  watched.  Absolute 
freedom  of  thought  and  speech  it  was  not  willing  to  allow. 
Hence,  a  system  of  espionage  was  still  maintained.  The  police 
noted  the  doings  of  individuals  as  carefully  as  in  the  days  of 
Metternich's  rule,  and  over  the  press  they  exercised  a  vigorous 
censorship.  The  papers  were  not  allowed  to  publish  articles 
offensive  to  the  Government. 

The  progress  of  Austria  has,  therefore,  had  sharp  limitations 
ever  since  the  liberal  regime  was  instituted  in  1867.  Yet  the 
era  of  progress  soon  began.  Educational  and  domestic  reforms 
were  inaugurated.  The  business  of  administration  was  effi- 
ciently managed.  De  Laveleye,  in  travelling  through  Austria 
in  1882,  received  the  impression  that  it  was  an  exceedingly 
well-governed  country.^  Population  increased.  The  volume 
of  exports  and  imports  grew  larger.  The  Liberal  party  in  the 
Reichsrath  was  strong,  though  not  always  in  the  ascendant.  A 
powerful  and  well-equipped  standing  army  was  maintained, 
and  in  1879  an  alliance  with  Germany  was  made  which  Italy 
also  joined  in  1882.  But  peaceful  relations  with  all  powers 
were  steadily  cultivated. 

The  only  war  Austria  has  engaged  in  since  1866  is  her  strug- 
gle with  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina  in  1878.  These  provinces 
she  was  empoAvered  to  occupy  and  administer  by  the  Congress 
of  Berlin.  But  Bosnia  fiercely  opposed  the  Austrian  advance 
into  her  territory,  and  was  only  subdued  after  sharp  fighting. 
Herzegovina  submitted  more  quietly,  though  not  without  offer- 
ing some  resistance.  Having  occupied  the  provinces  and  given 
them  the  benefits  of  a  progressive  rule,  Austria  practically 
made  them  her  own.  They  are  now  considered  a  part  of  the 
empire,  though  annexation  was  not  authorized  by  the  Berlin 
Congress. 

During  recent  years  Austria  has  passed  a  number  of  reform 
measures,  one  of  the  most  important  of  them  being  the  Electoral 
Reform  Bill  of  1896.  By  its  provisions  the  number  of  depu- 
ties in  the  Lower  Reichsrath  was  raised  from  353  to  425,  72 
of  whom  were  to  be  elected  by  the  male  citizens  who  are 
twenty-four  years  old  and  own  homes  in  which  they  have  re- 
sided for  six  months.     Though  this  is  by  no  means  universal 

1  "The  Balkan  Peuiusula,"  Chs.  I.-III. 


PART  11  AUSTRIA-HUNGARY  147 

suffrage,  it  is  a  stride  in  that  direction.  Indeed,  in  the  elec- 
tion of  the  72  members  specially  provided  for  in  the  bill  the 
suffrage  is  nearly  universal.  In  this  year  (1896)  a  scheme  of 
currency  reform  was  also  carried  through.  But  progress  is 
not  made  without  difficulty.  The  Conservatives  and  the  Cleri- 
cals sometimes  combine  to  oppose  liberal  measures,  and  their 
influence  in  the  Eeichsrath  is  considerable.  The  Clericals  are 
strongly  anti-Semitic,  and  their  power  seems  to  be  increasing. 
In  the  municipal  elections  held  in  Vienna  in  189G  they  gained 
a  sweeping  victory,  96  of  their  candidates  being  elected  against 
42  Liberals. 

But  no  one  party  seems  likely  to  command  a  majority  in  the 
Reichsrath.  The  groups  in  that  body  are  almost  as  numerous 
as  the  races  in  the  Empire,  and  they  keep  alive  the  spirit  of 
faction.  Eace  rather  than  political  principles  gives  parties  their 
rallying  cry.  Hence  the  race  problem  is  for  Austria  a  very 
serious  one.  In  the  Empire  there  are  about  25,000,000  people, 
of  whom  9,000,000  are  Germans,  6,000,000  Czechs,  4,000,000 
Poles,  3,000,000  Ruthenians,  1,000,000  SloAvenians,  700,000 
Italians,  650,000  Croats  and  Serbs,  200,000  Rumanians,  500,000 
other  nationalities.  But  though  the  Germans  are  the  most 
numerous,  the  most  widespread,  and  the  most  cultivated  of  any 
of  these  races,  they  cannot  dominate  the  other  elements  and 
force  their  language  and  civilization  upon  them.  That  they  are 
anxious  to  do  this,  however,  recent  events  have  made  evident; 
for  the  language  ordinance  issued  in  May,  1897,  roused  the 
united  and  vehement  opposition  of  the  Germans,  not  only  in  the 
Chamber  itself,  but  all  over  the  Empire. 

Count  Badeni,  the  head  of  the  Austrian  Ministry,  was  the 
author  of  the  obnoxious  decree  which  opened  all  courts  in 
Bohemia  to  lawsuits  in  the  Czech  tongue,  and  required  all 
German  officials  in  Bohemia  to  learn  Czech  within  four  years. 
Before  this  German  had  been  the  official  language  in  Bohemia, 
and  the  German  officials  there  monopolized  the  offices  and  all 
the  advantages  that  go  with  official  position.  But  Count 
Badeni's  ordinance  threatened  to  deprive  them  of  their  prestige 
and  influence  in  Bohemia  by  making  Czech  as  well  as  German 
the  official  language.  The  Germans  therefore  denounced  it 
fiercely  in  the  Reichsrath,  and  resolved  to  resort  to  all  possible 
means  to  compel  its  withdrawal.     Nor  was  their  opposition  to 


148  SOUTHEASTERN   EUROPE   AND   RUSSIA  book  i 

the  decree  unreasonable,  for  it  had  been  issued  by  the  Ministry 
without  the  Emperor's  signature,  and  it  violated  the  Constitu- 
tion, according  to  Avhich  a  law  of  national  import  should  apply 
to  all  Austria  and  not  to  a  single  province. 

The  German  members  of  the  Reichsrath  forgot  all  sense  of 
decorum  in  fighting  against  this  ordinance,  and  made  the 
Reichsrath  a  wild  scene  of  tumult  and  disorder.  Parliamen- 
tary business  accordingly  became  impossible,  and  on  June  3, 
1897,  the  session  was  brought  to  an  end.  But  when  the 
Reichsrath  met  again  in  September,  the  German  element, 
instead  of  mending  its  unseemly  ways,  became  still  more 
uproarious  and  violent.  The  Ausgleich,  as  well  as  the  language 
ordinance,  now  roused  its  antagonism  and  moved  it  to  take 
a  determined  and  persistent  stand  for  German  rights  and 
privileges.  The  Ausgleich  is  the  adjustment  of  international 
relations  by  which  Austria  and  Hungary  manage  their  common 
affairs.  It  was  first  established  when  the  Dual  Monarchy 
came  into  existence,  and  it  is  renewed  every  ten  years.  Among 
other  things  it  settles  the  amount  that  each  nation  shall  pay  to 
the  common  fund ;  and  it  was  just  this  question  of  taxation 
that  now  rendered  the  renewal  of  the  Ausgleich  difficult.  For 
Hungary  had  gained  in  wealth  and  prosperity  more  rapidly 
than  Austria,  and  it  was  therefore  fitting  that  Hungary's  con- 
tribution to  the  common  treasury  should  be  increased  and 
Austria's  lightened.  But  the  governments  of  the  two  countries 
found  it  difficult  to  make  a  new  adjustment  that  would  be 
mutually  satisfactory,  and  agreed  to  recommend  a  renewal  of 
the  existing  Ausgleich  for  a  year. 

As  this  arrangement  was  to  Hungary's  advantage,  the  Hun- 
garian Parliament  voted  on  October  21,  1897,  in  favor  of  re- 
newal, though  the  vote  was  by  no  means  unanimous.  A  strong 
party  in  the  Hungarian  Reichsrath,  headed  by  Francis  Kossuth, 
is  desirous  of  making  Hungary  wholly  independent  of  Austria; 
and  it  therefore  opposed  the  renewal  of  the  Ausgleich.  As 
its  opposition  was  considered  factious,  it  was  not  able  to  com- 
mand a  majority;  but  what  it  failed  to  compass  was  accom- 
plished in  the  Austrian  Parliament.  The  Austrians  looked 
upon  the  Ausgleich  then  existing  as  an  injustice  to  their  nation, 
and  stoutly  refused  to  renew  it  even  for  a  year.  Indeed,  the 
proposal  to  renew  it  caused  a  stormy  outbreak  in  the  Reichsrath, 


PAKT  II  AUSTRIA-HUNGARY  149 


and  brought  the  German  party  to  the  front  as  the  champions 
of  national  privilege.  It  was  in  opposing  the  Ausgleich  and 
upholding  the  rights  of  the  Germans  in  Austria  that  Dr.  Ltiger 
made  his  famous  twelve  hours'  speech. 

The  language  ordinance  was  finally  modified  in  March,  1898, 
and  in  June,  l8i)*J,  the  difficulties  over  the  Ausgleich  were  set- 
tled by  compromise,  it  being  agreed  that  the  existing  Ausgleich 
should  stand  until  1907,  after  it  had  been  subjected  to  certain 
changes  which  placed  Hungary  on  an  equality  with  Austria 
in  its  financial  and  foreign  relations.  But  the  turbulence  occa- 
sioned by  these  burning  questions  was  significant.  It  showed 
that  Austria  was  not  a  united  nation,  and  that  disintegration 
might  easily  take  place  where  so  many  races  were  held  in 
imperfect  union.  The  Germans  showed  themselves  strong  and 
aggressive  during  the  period  of  national  excitement;  but  the 
other  races  look  upon  them  with  jealousy.  They  have,  more- 
over, to  count  upon  the  hostility  of  the  Church,  for  the  priests 
dislike  the  Germans  on  account  of  their  freedom  of  thought.^ 
The  Slavs  and  the  Poles  retain  their  own  strong  individuality 
and  race  characteristics,  and  obstruct  the  consolidation  of  the 
Empire.  The  Czechs  are  eager  to  obtain  their  independence, 
for  they  look  back  upon  the  days  when  Bohemia  was  a  kingdom 
with  its  own  elected  monarch.  Similar  aspirations  are  cher- 
ished by  the  Poles  of  Galicia ;  and  the  Slavs  in  the  southern 
districts  resent  their  subjection  to  a  German  dynasty.  A  wise 
policy  is  therefore  needed  to  keep  the  Empire  from  falling 
asunder.  The  various  provinces  should  be  brought  more  and 
more  under  one  central  rule,  or  they  should  be  allowed  partial 
independence  and  formed  into  a  strong  federation.  But  the 
Emperor  Francis  Joseph  has  not  worked  persistently  toward 
either  of  these  ends.^ 

Hungary  has  not  been  behind  Austria  in  legislative  reforms 
and  in  educational  and  industrial  progress.  The  Hungarians 
used  to  be  considered  a  backward  people,  but  they  no  longer 
deserve  this  reputation.  They  are  energetic,  alert,  and  eager 
to  keep  in  touch  with  modern  ideas.  Elementary  education  is 
compulsory,  and  universities  and  technical  schools  of  a  high 
grade  of  excellence  have  been  established.     The  literary  activ- 

1  "  Gnvennneiits  and  rarlifs  of  Cniitiiiental  Europe,"  II.  19. 
2/6i(/.,  II.  nil. 


150  SOUTHEASTERN   EUROPE    AND   RUSSIA  book  i 

ity  of  the  country  is  considerable,  the  amuial  issue  of  books 
being  large  and  embracing  nearly  every  department  of  author- 
ship. At  the  same  time  Hangar}^  produces  no  writers  of  gen- 
ius whose  works  are  read  all  over  the  civilized  world.  She 
achieves  greater  things  in  music  than  in  literature,  some  of  her 
composers  being  widely  celebrated.  The  material  prosperity 
of  the  country  is  in  keeping  with  its  progressive  tendencies 
and  its  intellectual  energy.  Imports  and  exports  are  increas- 
ing. The  mining  and  manufacturing  industries  are  in  a  flour- 
ishing condition.  In  particular  iron  and  coal  are  produced  in 
great  quantities,  and  iron  manufacture  is  growing  rapidly. 

But  Hungary  as  well  as  Austria  has  its  troublesome  race 
problem.  For  in  Hungary  dwell  Slavs,  Germans,  and  Ruma- 
nians, as  well  as  Magyars,  and  these  sturdy  races  cannot  easily 
be  amalgamated.  Yet  it  is  precisely  this  task  of  amalgamation 
that  Hungary  is  attempting.  The  Magyars  are  considerably 
more  numerous  than  any  other  race  in  the  kingdom,  numbering 
about  7,500,000  against  2,000,000  Germans,  3,000,000  Ruma- 
nians, and  above  5,000,000  Croats,  Serbs,  and  other  Slavs.  Pos- 
sessing this  superiority  in  numbers,  the  Magyars  are  determined 
to  make  their  own  race  dominant  over  all  the  rest.  Exactly 
what  Austria  once  tried  to  do  to  them  they  are  now  attempting 
to  do  to  the  non-Hungarian  portion  of  the  population.  They 
wish  to  denationalize  it  and  make  it  thoroughly  Hungarian,  so 
that  the  civilization  of  the  country  may  ultimately  have  a  uni- 
form tone  and  character.  And  in  this  endeavor  they  are  largely 
successful,  though  not  yet  wdiolly  so.  The  Germans  are  too 
scattered  to  offer  much  resistance  to  the  fierce  nationalism  of 
the  Magyars.  Some  of  them  indeed  leave  the  country  rather 
than  submit  to  the  overbearing  character  of  the  Magyar  rule. 
But  the  Rumanians  stoutly  cling  to  their  own  national  ways 
of  thought  and  life,  and  the  task  of  making  Hungarians  of  them 
is  extremely  difficult.  They  have  less  mental  vigor  than  the 
Magyars,  but  greater  stubbornness  of  temper.^     While  the  Hun- 

1  "Few  races  possess  in  such  a  marked  degree  tlie  blind  and  immoval)le 
sense  of  nationality  which  characterizes  the  Rumanians:  they  hardly  ever 
mingle  with  surrounding  races,  far  less  adopt  manners  and  customs  foreign  to 
their  own;  and  it  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  the  seemingly  stronger-minded 
and  more  manly  Huusarians  are  absolutely  powerless  to  influence  them  even 
in  cases  of  intermarriage.  Thus,  the  Hungarian  womau  who  weds  a  Ruma- 
nian husband  will  necessarily  adopt  the  dress  and  manners  of  his  people,  and 


PART  11  AUSTRIA-HUNGAKY  151 

garians  rule  them  with  a  strong  hand  and  force  their  own  civil- 
ization upon  them,  they  have  reason  to  hold  them  in  dread. 
Increasing  rapidly,  never  changing  their  ideas  and  absorbing 
rather  than  being  absorbed,  they  render  to  the  Hungarians  an 
external  submission  without  losing  their  race  characteristics. 
They  cringe,  yet  defy.  So,  even  when  overmastered,  they  may 
still  be  gaining  on  their  rulers.  But  so  far  as  appearances  go, 
the  Hungarians  are  bringing  Transylvania  completely  under 
their  laws  and  institutions. 

More  difficult  to  control  are  the  Croatians  in  the  southwest 
portion  of  the  kingdom.  This  people  actively  and  openly 
resists  the  Hungarian  supremacy.  The  Croatians  have  de- 
manded and  obtained  a  larger  measure  of  independence  than 
has  been  granted  to  any  other  people  under  Magyar  rule ;  but 
they  are  still  unsatisfied  and  are  inclined  to  make  trouble. 
In  1897  their  disaffection  assumed  such  a  serious  character 
that  twelve  districts  in  Croatia  were  placed  under  martial  law. 
Nor  was  it  in  Croatia  alone  that  the  spirit  of  sedition  showed 
itself.  The  spread  of  agrarian  socialism  had  caused  wide  dis- 
content among  the  working-classes ;  and  in  July  of  this  year 
there  was  an  extensive  strike  of  the  harvesters  in  central  Hun- 
gary, who  demanded  higher  wages,  shorter  hours,  freedom  of 
speech,  and  the  right  of  combination.  Alarmed  at  their  dem- 
onstrations, the  Government  interfered  in  behalf  of  the 
employers  and  reestablished  order;  but  even  in  doing  so  it 
antagonized  the  lladicals  and  Socialists,  on  whom  it  depended 
for  support  against  Clerical  influence. 

Thus  it  appears  that  Hungary  as  well  as  Austria  is  torn  by 
dissension,  and  finds  the  obstacles  in  the  way  of  homogeneity 
wellnigh  insuperable.  It  is  possible  that  the  Hungarian  spirit 
may  in  the  end  become  dominant  throughout  the  kingdom  in 
spite  of  the  resistance  it  encounters  ;  but  this  result,  if  attained, 
must  be  the  work  of  years  and  perhaps  of  generations.  Nor  is 
it  by  any  means  certain  that  the  two  monarchies  will  long 

her  children  will  he  as  good  Rumanians  as  though  they  had  no  drop  of  Hun- 
garian hlnod  in  tluir  veins;  whih;  the  Magyar  who  takes  a  Rumanian  girl  for 
his  wife  will  not  only  fail  to  convert  her  to  his  ideas,  hut  himself,  snhdued  by 
her  inlluence,  will  imperceptibly  begin  to  lose  his  nationality.  This  is  a  fact 
well  known  ami  mucli  lamented  by  the  Hungarians  themselves,  who  live  in 
anticipated  apprehension  of  seeing  Iheir  jyeojile  dissolving  into  Runumians." 
E.  Gerard's  "  The  Land  beyond  the  Forest,"  Ch.  XXIV. 


152  SOUTHEASTERN   EUROPE   AND   RUSSIA  book  i 

hold  together.  The  Hungarians  are  not  satisfied,  even  though 
they  have  almost  complete  independence,  and  the  movement 
headed  by  Francis  Kossuth,  though  sometimes  defeated,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  renewal  of  the  Ausgleich,  may  gather  strength 
and  become  formidable.  Even  the  smallest  encroachment  upon 
Hungarian  rights  and  privileges  causes  deep  resentment.  When 
it  was  proclaimed  that  all  military  commands  were  to  be  given 
in  German,  the  students  of  Budapest  marched  in  procession 
through  the  streets  to  express  their  indignation,  and  angry 
protests  were  heard  all  over  Hungary.  The  advent  of  a  weak 
sovereign,  therefore,  might  bring  the  union  of  the  two  mon- 
archies to  an  end. 

The  Dual  Monarch}^  of  Austria-Hungary  is  governed  by  the 
Emperor  of  Austria,  who  is  also  King  of  Hungary,  and  by  a 
body  representing  both  monarchies,  termed  the  Delegations. 
The  powers  of  the  Emperor-King  are  limited  by  the  Constitu- 
tions of  the  two  monarchies,  which  force  him  to  govern  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  will  of  each  people  as  expressed  by  its  legis- 
lature. The  Delegations  has  control  over  foreign  affairs,  over 
the  joint  finances  of  the  two  monarchies,  and  over  army  affairs 
and  war.  It  is  composed  of  120  members,  60  of  whom  repre- 
sent Austria  and  60  Hungary.  The  members  are  chosen  by 
the  two  National  Parliaments,  each  Upper  House  electing  20 
and  each  Lower  House  40.  The  Delegations  sits  alternately 
at  Vienna  and  at  Budapest. 

Austria  has  a  National  Legislature  and  a  number  of  Provin- 
cial Diets,  each  of  which  is  composed  of  a  single  Chamber  and 
legislates  concerning  local  matters.  The  National  Legislature 
consists  of  an  Upper  and  a  Lower  House,  and  is  termed  the 
Reichsrath.  In  the  Upper  House  sit  princes  of  the  imperial 
family,  a  number  of  hereditary  nobles,  archbishops  and  bish- 
ops, and  life  members  appointed  by  the  Emperor.  The  Lower 
House  is  composed  of  425  members,  elected  by  different  constit- 
uencies, but  in  no  case  by  universal  suffrage.  It  chooses  its 
own  presiding  officer.  To  be  valid  a  bill  must  be  passed  by 
both  Houses  and  receive  the  approval  of  the  Emperor. 

The  legislature  of  Hungary  consists  of  the  House  of  Mag- 
nates and  the  House  of  Representatives.  The  former  body  is 
made  up  of  hereditary  peers,  archbishops  and  bishops  of  the 
Catholic  and  Greek  Churches,  eleven  representatives  of   the 


PART  11  AUSTRIA-HUNGARY  153 

Protestant  faith,  life  peers  appointed  by  the  Crown,  and  sixteen 
members  ex-officio.  The  members  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives are  chosen  for  five  years  by  a  suffrage  limited  by  a  slight 
property  qualification.  In  both  Austria  and  Hungary  the  execu- 
tive is  composed  of  a  number  of  responsible  ministers,  each  of 
whom  is  at  the  head  of  some  important  State  department.  Both 
countries  allow  entire  freedgm  of  worship,  though  in  Austria 
the  Roman  Catholic  religion  is  recognized  as  that  of  the  State. 
The  annual  expenditure  of  Austria  is  a  little  above  $000,000,- 
000,  that  of  Hungary  about  .f! 230,000,000 ;  while  Austria  has  a 
special  debt  of  $610,000,000,  and  Hungary  of  $1,035,000,000. 
The  army  of  the  Dual  Monarchy  is  one  of  the  largest  and  most 
efficient  in  Europe,  as  in  case  of  war  it  could  put  1,300,000 
men  in  the  field.  Its  navy  is  small  when  compared  with  that 
of  England  or  France,  numbering  only  about  a  dozen  first-class 
ships  of  war  and  protected  cruisers.  But  it  is  increased  by  new 
vessels  from  year  to  year. 

Liechtenstein 

Smaller  than  Andorra  and  only  a  little  more  populous,  this 
quiet  German  state  goes  unnoticed  from  year  to  year.  Over- 
shadowed by  Austria,  upon  whose  border  it  lies,  its  people  are 
buried  under  the  traditions  and  customs  of  the  past,  and  their 
pulses  are  not  stirred  by  the  political  restlessness  of  the  times. 
But  their  country,  which  had  formerly  belonged  to  the  Ger- 
manic Confederation,  was  made  a  constitutional  monarchy  in 
1862,  and  its  form  of  government  therefore  calls  for  brief  men- 
tion. It  is  ruled  by  the  head  of  the  House  of  Liechtenstein  — 
a  House  which  has  held  the  princely  rank  for  nearly  three 
hundred  years.  The  legislative  authority  is  vested  in  the 
Prince  and  in  a  Diet  of  fifteen  members,  who  are  chosen  for 
six  years,  three  of  them  by  the  Prince  himself  and  twelve  by 
the  people.  Although  considered  an  independent  state,  the 
principality  is  not  absolutely  autonomous  ;  for  Austria  controls 
its  customs,  its  currency,  and  its  postal  system,  and,  through 
a  court  of  chancellery  at  Vienna,  exercises  some  direction  of 
its  affairs.  With  its  area  of  sixty-eight  square  miles  and  its 
population  of  about  10,000,  it  needs  no  standing  army  and  its 
people  are  exempt  from  military  service.  They  are  also  freed 
from  the  burden  of  direct  taxation. 


CHAPTEll  II 

THE    BALKAN    STATES 

The  country  whicli  lies  south  of  the  eastern  portion  of  the 
Danube  has  had  an  eventful  history.  In  that  region  of  rugged 
mountains  and  fertile  valleys  civilizations  have  flourished  and 
decayed,  kingdoms  have  waxed  great  only  to  decline  and  fall, 
and  invading  races  have  wandered  in  search  of  a  home.  But 
of  steady  growth  there  has  been  little.  The  country  has  not 
been  able  to  work  out  its  destiny  under  the  lead  of  one  domi- 
nant and  powerful  race.  Rather  has  it  been  a  scene  of  confu- 
sion and  bloody  conflict  ever  since  the  Greeks  and  the  Persians 
closed  at  Marathon  nearly  twenty-four  centuries  ago.  For 
that  deadly  struggle  was  a  prelude  to  the  history  of  South- 
eastern Europe  down  to  the  present  day.  Separated  from 
Asia  merely  by  a  narrow  strait,  this  land  has  been  the  meet- 
ing-ground of  two  hostile  civilizations,  and  within  its  borders 
they  have  come  together  with  a  shock  that  has  echoed  around 
the  world.  Bulgarians,  Magyars,  and  other  Turanian  peoples 
came  down  from  the  lands  north  of  the  Euxine;  the  Ottomans 
and  the  Seljuks  entered  from  Asia  Minor  or  from  the  Medi- 
terranean Sea.  So  one  invading  horde  followed  another  across 
this  rich  but  ill-fated  region,  and  it  could  enjoy  no  settled 
peace.  And  when  at  last  it  fell  wholly  under  the  rule  of  a 
single  power,  it  found  itself  beneath  the  feet  of  a  merciless 
and  cruel  despot.  The  Ottoman  Turk  overran  the  whole  Bal- 
kan Peninsula  in  the  latter  half  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
and  he  made  it  the  scene  of  rapacity,  barbarity,  and  slaughter. 
Its  inhabitants  were  robbed  of  their  goods  and  their  children, 
tortured  if  they  submitted,  and  tortured  worse  if  they  ventured 
to  resist.  Their  sufferings  make  one  of  the  darkest  pages  in 
history.  Only  little  Montenegro  with  its  impenetrable  fast- 
nesses succeeded  in  defying  the  blood-stained  Ottoman  power. 

154 


PART  11  THE   BALKAN   STATES  155 

Consequently,  there  was  no  opportunity  for  political  growth 
in  this  oppressed  and  afflicted  country.  Under  Turkish  mis- 
rule the  peoples  south  of  the  Danube  sat  in  dull  despair  for 
over  three  centuries.  Sometimes  they  evaded  their  conquerors 
by  resorting  to  the  mountains ;  but  they  could  not  reap  the 
fruits  of  their  own  labors  and  cultivate  the  arts  of  peace  and 
civilization.  All  that  they  acquired  went  to  enrich  the  Turk, 
whose  corrupt  reign  required  endless  contributions  from  his 
long-suffering  subjects.  So  commerce  and  industry  had  but 
the  scantiest  encouragement.  The  people  had  no  interest  in 
becoming  prosperous  when  prosperity  simply  invited  spoli- 
ation. 

The  whole  Balkan  Peninsula,  then,  was  little  better  than  a 
scene  of  desolation  at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
and  here  the  ideas  that  brought  on  the  French  Revolution  were 
necessarily  slow  in  making  their  way.  AVhat  could  these  peoples 
know  of  self-government  after  centuries  of  tyranny  and  perse- 
cution ?  To  avoid  the  tax-gatherer  was  the  height  of  their 
ambition.  And  yet  some  of  these  races  were  hardy  and  vigor- 
ous, and,  in  spite  of  their  sufferings,  had  never  learned  to 
cringe  to  their  oppressors.  In  their  mountain  homes  they  had 
cherished  manly  virtues,  courage  and  independence ;  and  they 
were  ready  to  take  desperate  chances  in  winning  their  freedom. 
Five  principal  races  there  were  in  European  Turkey  besides 
the  Turks  themselves. 

I.  The  Greeks,  who,  though  possessing  some  Slavonic  blood, 
were  the  undoubted  descendants  of  the  ancient  Hellenes.^  Like 
their  ancestors  in  classical  times,  they  loved  freedom  and  they 
were  ready  to  fight  and  die  for  it.  Three  hundred  years  and 
more  of  submission  to  Turkey  had  not  crushed  their  manhood. 
They  occupied  very  much  the  same  extent  of  country  which 
was  included  in  ancient  Greece. 

II.  To  the  north  of  the  Greeks  dwelt  the  Albanians.  They 
are  a  branch  of  the  old  Illyrian  race,  and  a  peculiarly  sturdy 
and  courageous  people.  Travellers  have  often  noted  their 
erect  carriage  and  their  haughty  bearing.  Like  the  Greek, 
they  hated  their  Turkish  masters,  but,  unlike  the  Greek,  who 
loves  to  dissimulate,  they  are  frank,  direct,  and  sincere.  Pos- 
sessing a  lively  temperament,  they  are  fond  of   gayety  and 

*•  1  "  Jebb's  Modem  Greece,"  p.  52. 


156  SOUTHEASTERN   EUROPE   AND    RUSSIA  book  i 

more  addicted  to  the  habits  of  the  highwayman  than  to  the 
settled  occupations  of  peace.  Both  their  faults  and  their 
virtues  are  those  of  a  hardy  but  half-civilized  people. 

III.  The  Vlachs,  who,  though  their  principal  home  is  north 
of  the  Danube  in  Rumania  and  eastern  Hungary,  are  also  scat- 
tered over  the  Balkan  Peninsula.  Considerable  numbers  of 
them  are  to  be  found  in  northern  Greece,  Albania,  Macedonia, 
and  Bulgaria,  and  other  districts  south  of  the  Danube.  They 
belong  to  the  Latin  family  of  peoples,  and  their  everyday 
speech  is  largely  made  up  of  Latin  words.  Quiet,  peaceable, 
and  industrious  by  nature,  they  do  not  share  the  fierce  instincts 
of  some  of  their  warlike  neighbors,  though  they  prove  good 
soldiers  when  tried  on  the  field  of  battle.  Wherever  they 
dwell  trade  flourishes  and  the  crafts  of  the  artisan  thrive. 
Their  work  in  metal  is  especially  good. 

IV.  The  Serbs,  a  Slavic  people,  who  settled  south  of  the 
Danube  in  the  seventh  century  and  founded  the  kingdom  of 
Servia.  Made  hardy  by  centuries  of  conflict  with  Greeks, 
Turks,  and  other  races,  they  possess  much  sturdy  strength  and 
great  power  of  resistance.  Though  the  Turks  conquered  them, 
they  could  not  force  them  to  give  up  their  language  and  their 
religion.  Living  in  great  simplicity  in  their  mountain  forests, 
the  Serbs  have  kept  alive  the  homelier  virtues,  and  have  learned 
to  admire  courage  above  all  things.  Their  national  songs, 
which  are  numerous  and  stirring,  extol  the  extraordinary  feats 
of  their  legendary  heroes.  But  they  ply  the  vocations  of  peace 
with  entire  contentment,  and  easily  maintain  themselves  in 
comfort  by  rude  agriculture  and  by  keeping  herds  of  swine. 
This  latter  industry  has  long  been  a  leading  one  in  Servia, 
owing  to  its  vast  oak  forests  with  their  abundant  supply  of 
acorns. 

V.  The  races  named  above  are  Aryan,  but  peoples  of  the 
Turanian  family  have  also  settled  in  European  Turkey.  Nota- 
ble among  these  are  the  Bulgarians,  who  made  their  way  south 
of  the  lower  Danube  in  the  latter  part  of  the  sixth  century, 
and  founded  a  kingdom  by  conquest.  Bulgaria  was  a  powerful 
state  at  the  beginning  of  the  tenth  century,  but  its  strength 
declined  and  its  people  lost  their  distinctive  character.  The 
Bulgarians  were  in  time  absorbed  by  the  sturdier  Slavs  around 
them,  and  retained  little  besides  their  name  to  indicate  their 


PART  II  THE   BALKAN   STATES  157 

Finnish  origin.  Their  features  still  bespeak  their  Tartar 
blood,  but  their  language  and  race  characteristics  are  dis- 
tinctly Slavonic.  Since  they  were  freed  from  Turkish  rapacity 
they  have  been  a  thriving,  industrious,  and  progressive  people. 
These  various  races  suffered  alike  from  Turkish  oppression 
and  cruelty,  and  were  alike  desirous  of  breaking  away  from  a 
rule  which  brought  them  nothing  but  misery.  But  they  could 
not  unite  to  win  their  freedom.  Concerted  action  was  made 
impossible  by  distance,  by  mountain  barriers,  by  the  watch- 
fulness of  the  Turk,  and  by  race  jealousies.  For  some  of  these 
peoples  hated  each  other  almost  as  fiercely  as  they  did  the 
Turk.  So  the  century  has  witnessed  no  grand  and  general 
uprising  among  these  afflicted  races.  The  European  move- 
ment for  freedom  found  its  way  across  the  Danube  and  the 
Balkans,  but  it  did  not  cause  a  flame  of  insurrection  to  run 
north  and  south  and  east  and  west  over  the  whole  peninsula. 
One  by  one  the  states  of  southeastern  Europe  have  broken 
away  from  their  oppressor.  Little  by  little  has  the  power  of 
Turkey  been  curtailed,  and  her  right  to  rob  and  mvirder  inno- 
cent peoples  been  taken  away.  It  is  therefore  impossible  to 
give  a  connected  account  of  this  brave  struggle  for  liberty,  with 
its  mingled  horrors  and  deeds  of  heroism.  Each  state  that 
has  gained  independence  must  be  ti-eated  by  itself.  Five  such 
states  there  are,  but  it  is  not  to  be  inferred  from  this  that  each 
of  the  five  peoples  above  enumerated  succeeded  in  becoming  a 
free  and  separate  power  j  for  such  was  not  the  case.  The 
states  are ;  — 

I.   Servia 

Goaded  to  desperation  by  Turkish  cruelty,  the  Servians  re- 
belled against  their  oppressors  early  in  the  century.  In  1804 
they  began  their  struggle  for  freedom  under  the  lead  of  a 
remarkable  man,  Avho  is  known  in  Servian  history  as  Kard- 
jordje,  or  Black  George.  His  true  name  was  George  Petrovitch. 
Born  of  peasant  oi-igin  about  the  year  1766,  he  showed  courage 
and  generalship  of  a  high  order  in  defying  the  formidable 
power  of  Turkey.  For  his  resources  were  of  the  scantiest. 
Kussia  gave  him  secret  encouragement,  but  his  army  was 
nothing  but  a  brave  band  of  Servian  peasants.      As  for  the 


158  SOUTHEASTEllN   EUROPE   AND   RUSSIA  book  i 

Servian  nobility,  there  was  none.  It  had  been  destroyed  or 
driven  out  of  the  country  by  the  brutality  of  the  Turk.  But 
unequal  as  the  conflict  seemed,  Black  George,  by  his  activity 
and  daring,  finally  came  out  victorious.  He  drove  the  Turks 
out  of  Servia,  which  for  a  short  time  enjoyed  the  first  taste 
of  freedom  it  had  had  for  centuries.  But  in  1813  the  Turks 
reconquered  the  country,  Russia  being  too  busily  engaged  in 
the  conflict  with  Napoleon  to  give  the  Servians  further  assist- 
ance. Black  George  fled  to  Austria  for  safety,  and  when  he 
reentered  Servia  in  3  817  he  was  murdered  at  the  instigation 
of  ]\Iilosh  Obrenovitch,  who  was  jealous  of  his  power  and 
influence  among  the  peasantry.  But  Milosh  himself  now 
headed  the  rebellion  against  Turkey,  and  proved  to  be  a  brave 
and  efficient  leader.  Baffled  in  all  their  attempts  to  subdue 
him,  the  Turks  gave  up  the  struggle  after  continuing  it  for 
more  than  ten  years.  In  1829  the  Sultan  granted  indepen- 
dence to  Servia,  and  recognized  Milosh  as  its  Prince.  In 
the  following  year  the  dignity  was  made  hereditary  in  his 
family.  But  Servia  was  still  obliged  to  pay  a  yearly  tribute 
to  tbe  Porte. 

In  thus  changing  masters,  the  Servians  did  not  gain  all  that 
they  had  wished;  for  Milosh,  a  man  of  coarse  instincts  and 
rough  nature,  governed  them  in  a  harsh  and  despotic  manner. 
Moreover  the  Russians,  who  liad  hel})ed  to  free  the  country, 
now  attempted  to  direct  and  control  its  affairs.  Their  in- 
fluence soon  became  dominant,  and  from  that  time  to  the 
present  day  Russian  intrigue  has  been  unceasingly  active  at 
the  court  of  Servia.  Milosh  himself  found  his  powers  crip- 
pled and  curtailed  by  the  machinations  of  Russia,  and  in 
1839  he  was  forced  to  resign  in  favor  of  his  son,  Milan.  But 
Milan  died  after  reigning  for  a  few  weeks,  and  was  succeeded 
by  his  younger  brother  Michael,  Avho  was  at  this  time  in  exile 
with  his  father.  First  visiting  Constantinople  and  receiving 
the  approval  of  the  Porte,  Michael  entered  Belgrade  in  triumph, 
on  March  15,  1840,  and  began  his  reign  with  good  courage. 
But  he  found  himself  confronted  with  formidable  enemies. 
The  Senate,  which  had  originally  been  established  by  Russian 
influence  to  cripple  the  power  of  his  father,  the  agents  of 
Russia  at  the  Servian  court,  the  widow  of  Black  George  and 
his  son  Alexander,  and  some  of  the  most  influential  politicians 


PART  II  THE   BALKAN   STATES  159 

of  Servia,  all  worked  against  him.  For  two  years  Michael 
struggled  hopelessly  against  this  opposition,  and  when  an  in- 
surrection broke  out  against  him  in  September,  1842,  he  relin- 
quished the  throne,  and  the  House  of  Obrenovitch  was  declared 
deposed.  Black  George's  son,  Alexander,  who  had  intrigued 
to  some  purpose,  was  now  made  Prince  of  Servia ;  but  he 
was  no  more  successful  than  the  House  of  Obrenovitcli  in  unit- 
ing the  warring  factions  of  his  country.  In  December,  1858, 
a  revolution  drove  him  into  exile  ;  and  Milosh,  who  had  been 
living  abroad  for  nearly  twenty  years,  was  restored  to  his 
former  dignity.  Upon  his  death,  in  1860,  Michael  for  a  sec- 
ond time  succeeded  to  the  throne.  Made  wiser  by  travel  and 
experience,  he  now  gave  the  country  an  enlightened  and  ac- 
ceptable rule.  r>ut  misfortune  seems  to  pursue  the  members 
of  this  house.  On  June  10,  1868,  he  was  assassinated  near  Bel- 
grade by  the  agents  of  his  predecessor,  Alexander,  and  the 
throne  passed  to  his  cousin  Milan  in  1872.  IJorn  in  1854, 
Milan  was  at  this  time  only  eighteen  years  of  age.  Qualified 
neither  by  nature  nor  experience  to  be  a  successful  ruler,  he 
was  unable  to  guide  his  country  through  the  difficulties  that 
arose  during  his  reign.  Some  forward  steps  were  indeed  taken. 
In  1868  and  1869  a  new  Constitution  was  framed  which  vested 
the  powers  of  government  in  the  Prince  and  a  National  Assem- 
bly, foreign  trade  was  increased,^  and  in  1878,  as  a  result  of 
the  war  between  Russia  and  Turkey  in  which  Servia  had  taken 
part  (p.  188),  complete  iudependence  of  Turkey  was  acquired. 
So  Servia  was  released  from  the  obligation  of  paying  an 
annual  tribute  to  the  Porte ;  and  in  1882  her  Prince  was  by 
proclamation  elevated  to  the  rank  of  King.  But  many  cir- 
cumstances conspired  to  make  the  reign  of  Milan  a  failure. 
The  Russians  continued  to  foment  discord  at  the  Servian 
court;  the  national  debt  increased;  and  an  uufortunate  war 
with  Bulgaria  in  1885  brought  disaster  and  humiliation.  For 
the  Servians,  after  attacking  Bulgaria  without  good  reason, 
were  badly  defeated  and  forced  to  seek  protection  from  Aus- 
tria-Hungary. Moreover  the  domestic  relations  of  King  Milan 
and  Queen  Nathalie  were  most  unhappy  and  became  a  national 
scandal.  The  royal  pair  were  divorced  in  1888,  and  in  1889 
King  Milan  abdicated  in  favor  of  his  young  son,  Alexander, 

1  De  Laveleye,  "  The  Balkan  Peuiusula,"  p.  192. 


160  SOUTHEASTERN   EUROPE   AND   RUSSIA  book  i 


and  withdrew  from  a  kingdom  where  his  presence  caused 
nothing  bat  quarrels  and  dissension.  As  Alexander  was  born 
in  1876,  he  was  too  young  to  govern,  and  the  royal  prerogatives 
were  for  several  years  exercised  by  a  regency.  But  in  1893 
Alexander,  though  he  had  not  yet  reached  his  majority,  as- 
sumed control  of  affairs.  His  reign,  however,  has  brought  no 
strength  to  his  country.  Servia  continues  to  be  the  seat  of 
intrigue;  factional  strife  disturbs  her  quiet;  unwise  expendi- 
ture adds  to  her  national  indebtedness.  In  1897  ex-King 
Milan  reentered  the  kingdom ;  but  he  was  so  little  respected 
that  his  presence  did  not  cause  serious  disturbance. 

Altogether,  popular  government  has  been  tried  in  Servia 
under  very  adverse  conditions.  The  Servians  have  not  been 
truly  independent,  even  though  their  subjection  to  Turkey 
ceased  early  in  the  century.  Their  position,  like  that  of  other 
Slavic  peoples  along  the  Danube,  is  a  trying  and  difficult  one. 
The  numerous  Slavic  races  that  are  scattered  throughout 
Austria-Hungary  and  the  Balkan  Peninsula  can  neither  unite 
nor  pursue  their  separate  destinies  unmolested.  Aspirations 
after  unity  are  not,  indeed,  lacking  among  them.  Often  has 
the  cry  of  Panslavism  been  raised  ;  but  no  practical  scheme  for 
bringing  the  various  Slavic  peoples  into  one  nation  or  one 
federation  has  ever  been  proposed.  But,  on  the  other  hand, 
either  as  small'  separate  nations  or  as  portions  of  larger  coun- 
tries like  Austria  and  Hungary,  these  peoples  are  obliged  to 
live  under  galling  conditions.  They  cannot  assert  themselves 
vigorously  without  realizing  their  own  powerlessness.  The 
Slavs  in  Hungary  are  subjected  to  a  strong  but  distasteful 
Magyar  influence  (p.  151)  ;  the  Servians  are  tied  hand  and  foot 
by  Russia  and  other  great  powers.  Servia  would  never  be 
allowed  to  take  a  step  that  would  imperil  the  peace  of  the 
Balkan  Peninsula;  nor  is  she  permitted  to  manage  her  own 
affairs  according  to  her  own  free  will  and  pleasure.  Russia 
watches  her  day  and  night,  keeps  agents  at  her  court,  and 
exercises  a  controlling  influence  upon  her  domestic  affairs. 
Her  political  future  is  not  promising;  but  her  people  mean- 
while live  a  quiet  and  industrious  life  and  grow  in  the  arts  of 
civilization. 

Servia  has  an  area  of  19,050  square  miles,  and  a  population 
of  about  2,500,000.     By  the  Constitution  adopted  in  1889  the 


PART  11       •  THE   BALKAN   STATES  161 

powers  of  government  are  vested  in  a  King  assisted  by  a  Coun- 
cil of  eight  Ministers,  and  two  legislative  Houses :  an  Upper 
House,  called  the  State  Council,  or  Senate,  of  sixteen  members, 
half  of  whom  are  nominated  by  the  King  and  half  are  chosen 
by  the  Assembly ;  and  a  Lower  House,  called  the  National 
Assembly,  whose  members  are  elected  by  the  people.  The 
right  of  suffrage  is  exercised  by  every  male  Servian  twenty-one 
years  old  who  pays  fifteen  dinans  (about  $3)  in  direct  taxes. 
Elementary  education  is  free  and  compulsory.  The  people  are 
chiefly  engaged  in  agriculture,  but  Servia  has  considerable 
mineral  wealth,  which  will  in  time  lead  to  the  development 
of  manufacturing  industries.  Some  factories  are  already  in 
operation.^ 

II.    Greece 

The  second  people  to  throw  off  the  yoke  of  the  Turks  was 
the  Greeks.  Their  condition  was  unfortunate  in  the  extreme 
at  the  beginning  of  the  century.  Their  harbors  were  unused 
and  blocked  with  sand ;  their  mountains  were  the  homes  of 
brigands;  their  ambition  seemed  to  have  perished.  Yet  the 
race  had  not  lost  its  love  of  liberty.  The  very  practice  of 
brigandage  had  kept  alive  courage  and  daring,  and  the  klephts, 
as  the  brigands  were  called,  had  remained  unsubdued  in  their 
rocky  homes.  It  was  among  this  class  that  the  love  of  free- 
dom and  the  willingness  to  fight  for  it  existed  most  strongly. 

And  even  the  peasantry  throughout  the  country,  broken- 
spirited  though  they  were,  could  not  wholly  forget  their 
glorious  past.  The  French  Kevolution  wakened  in  them  some 
patriotic  feeling.  Patriotic  songs  circulated  among  the  people 
and  fired  their  national  spirit.  As  in  Italy,  a  secret  society 
prepared  the  way  for  insurrection,  and  in  1821  the  struggle 
for  independence  began.  But  the  Greeks,  true  to  their  ancient 
political  instincts,  did  not  take  up  arms  without  giving  their 
movement  a  character  of  legality  and  order.  In  January, 
1822,  the  first  National  Assembly  of  Greece,  numbering  sixty- 
seven  members,  met  at  Epidaurus,  proclaimed  the  Greek  nation 
independent  of  Turkey,  framed  a  Constitution,  and  vested  the 

1  De  Laveleyo  was  of  tlie  opinion  that  Sin-via  should  confine  her  energies  to 
agriculture;  "The  Balkan  Peninsula,"  p.  1S)8. 

M 


162  SOUTHEASTERN   EUROPE    AND   RUSSIA  book  i 

powers  of  government  in  a  Senate  of  thirty -tliree  members  and 
an  Executive  Council  of  five.  Thus  Greece,  though  she  had 
still  to  win  her  freedom,  took  her  place  among  the  countries 
which  recognized  the  sovereign  will  of  the  people. 

Freedom  Avas  finally  gained  after  six  years  of  fighting,  but 
the  conflict  was  bloody  and  desperate.  Aided  by  a  force  of 
Arabs  sent  from  Egypt,  the  Turks  carried  everything  before 
them  in  the  earlier  years  of  the  war.  But  their  massacres  and 
cold-blooded  atrocities  roused  an  intense  feeling  of  indignation 
against  them  throughout  Europe.  Lord  Byron  went  to  the  aid 
of  the  Greeks  in  1823;  and  though  he  died  before  he  had 
served  long  among  them,  his  example  was  a  tower  of  strength 
to  their  cause.  It  was  followed  by  other  lovers  of  liberty, 
who  flocked  to  Greece  from  many  lands  and  brought  hope  and 
inspiration  to  the  struggling  patriots.  Above  all,  Canning  lent 
Greece  the  weight  of  England's  influence  and  interested  France 
and  Russia  in  her  behalf,  the  latter  power  being  also  strongly 
influenced  by  selfish  considerations.  In  1827  the  allied  fleets 
appeared  off  the  coast  of  Greece  to  act  as  a  check  upon  Turkish 
barbarity.  Being  fired  upon  by  the  Turkish  fleet  in  the  harbor 
of  Navarino  on  October  20,  they  returned  the  fire  till  few  of 
the  Turkish  vessels  were  left  to  tell  the  tale  of  disaster.  Thus 
by  an  "  untoward  event,"  as  the  Duke  of  Wellington  termed 
this  splendid  triumph  of  the  allies,  the  independence  of  Greece 
was  virtually  secured.  The  Sultan  was  awed  by  the  interfer- 
ence of  such  powerful  nations,  and  when  Russia  made  war 
upon  him  in  1828,  he  abandoned  his  conflict  with  a  people 
whom  the  sufferings  of  six  years  had  not  subdued. 

Not  all  at  once,  however,  could  the  Greeks  arrange  definite 
terms  of  peace  nor  establish  a  settled  form  of  government.  In 
1827  they  had  changed  their  Constitution  and  appointed  a 
single  executive.  John  Capodistrias,  a  native  of  Corfu,  was 
chosen  President  for  seven  years;  but,  though  Greece  had  thus 
seemingly  become  a  Republic,  her  destiny  really  depended  upon 
the  action  of  the  three  great  powers  which  had  secured  her 
freedom  and  which  still  considered  her  under  their  protection. 
And  the  powers  would  not  allow  her  to  be  a  Republic.  To 
conciliate  Metternich,  always  an  enemy  to  democracy,  and  to 
humor  the  Sultan,  who  was  loath  to  see  the  nation  that  had  been 
subject  to  him  become  a  self-governing  state,  they  recognized 


PART  11  THE   BALKAN   STATES  163 

Greece  as  a  kingdom  by  the  Protocol  of  London,  issued  on 
February  3,  1830 ;  and  they  also  deprived  her  of  territory  that 
was  rightfully  hers.  Some  of  the  northern  districts,  which 
were  inhabited  by  Greeks  and  which  had  furnished  no  incon- 
siderable portion  of  the  patriot  forces,  were  made  over  to 
Turkey. 

I)ut  for  the  kingdom  thus  curtailed  and  thus  arbitrarily 
constituted  without  reference  to  the  wishes  of  its  people,  it  was 
not  easy  to  find  a  King;  and  meanwhile  Capodistrias  ruled 
the  country  with  an  iron  hand.  For  a  number  of  years  before 
he  was  elected  President  he  had  been  in  the  employ  of  the 
Tsar.  Indeed,  it  was  as  Secretary  of  Foreign  Affairs  for  Eussia 
that  he  had  been  able  to  help  his  countrymen  in  their  struggle 
for  independence,  and  had  displayed  the  ability  which  they 
rewarded  by  making  him  their  executive.  But  his  Russian 
training  now  worked  to  his  disadvantage.  It  made  him  arbi- 
trary and  despotic,  and  was  the  cause  of  his  undoing.  For  the 
high-spirited  Greeks  would  not  brook  his  arrogance,  and  two 
members  of  the  Mavromichales  family,  whom  he  had  goaded 
to  desperation  by  his  injustice,  assassinated  him  in  1831. 

But  nearly  a  year  passed  after  his  death  before  Greece 
obtained  a  King.  Already  had  the  crown  been  offered  to 
Prince  John  of  Saxony  and  Prince  Leopold  of  Saxe-Coburg, 
but  it  was  declined  by  both,  —  by  the  latter  largely  because 
Crete,  which  he  considered  an  essential  part  of  Greece,  was 
not  included  in  the  boundaries  of  the  new  kingdom.  Nor  was 
it  deemed  wise  or  even  possible  to  bestow  the  royal  office  upon 
a  Greek;  for  his  countrymen,  with  their  strong  democratic 
instincts,  would  not  have  endured  to  see  one  of  their  number 
thus  elevated  above  them.  So  it  Avas  necessary  to  seek  a  for- 
eign prince,  and  one  was  finally  found  in  Otto  of  Bavaria,  who 
accepted  the  offered  dignity,  and  arrived  in  Greece  on  Feb- 
ruary G,  1833.  But  though  he  was  welcomed  with  enthusiasm 
by  the  Greek  people,  he  proved  a  most  unsatisfactory  King. 
Unfortunately,  in  the  covenant  make  between  him  and  the 
Greek  nation,  no  stipulation  was  made  that  he  should  rule  in 
accordance  with  the  Constitution.  Moreover,  he  was  not  quite 
eighteen  years  old  when  he  landed  in  Greece,  and  he  had  been 
brought  up  in  a  despotic  court ;  so  his  training  and  his  lack  of 
experience  were  against  him. 


164  SOUTHEASTERN   EUliOPE    AND   RUSSIA  book  i 

It  was  not  strange  that  lie  soon  alienated  the  people  who 
had  so  cordially  received  him.  He  governed  without  regard 
to  the  Constitution,  and  he  bestowed  the  most  important  offices 
upon  Bavarians  whom  he  brought  with  him  into  Greece;  while  to 
the  Greeks  themselves  he  gave  no  voice  in  the  conduct  of  their 
affairs.  Such  arrogance  could  have  but  one  outcome.  In  1843 
the  Greeks  rebelled  against  this  arbitrary  monarch  and  forced 
him  to  dismiss  his  Bavarian  followers.  Realizing  that  he  must 
make  ample  concessions  or  resign  his  power,  Otto  promised  to 
govern  through  responsible  ministers  and  a  representative 
assembly.  But  this  promise  he  failed  to  keep.  The  Greeks 
found  that  they  were  simply  the  creatures  of  a  foreign  task- 
master, who  persistently  abused  his  power.  So  they  drove 
him  out  of  Greece  in  1862  and  looked  for  a  truly  constitutional 
sovereign.  Their  choice  fell  upon  Prince  Alfred  of  England, 
who  received  almost  the  entire  vote  of  the  nation.  But  this 
choice  was  condemned  by  England,  France,  and  Russia.  In 
taking  Greece  under  their  protection  these  powers  had  agreed 
that  no  member  of  their  own  reigning  families  should  sit  upon 
the  throne  of  Greece.  So  the  Greeks  were  obliged  to  select 
another  prince,  and  they  chose  Prince  Wilhelm,  the  second  son 
of  the  present  King  of  Denmark,  who  was  proclaimed  King 
under  the  title  of  George  I.,  on  March  30,  1863.  This  selec- 
tion was  approved  by  England,  France,  and  Russia,  and  on 
October  30  of  this  same  year  King  George  arrived  at  Athens. 
On  the  following  day  he  swore  to  support  the  Constitution ;  and 
to  this  oath  he  has  been  true,  as  he  has  not,  like  his  father 
(p.  230),  defied  the  written  law  of  the  land. 

Under  his  rule  commerce  has  increased,  education  has  been 
encouraged,  and  brigandage,  which  was  widely  practised  thirty 
years  ago,  has  been  suppressed.  Greece  has  become  a  prosper- 
ous country  under  this  liberal  sovereign,  but  by  no  means  a 
contented  one.  The  Greeks  have  steadily  cherished  hopes  for 
national  aggrandizement ;  but  those  hopes,  far  from  becoming 
fully  realized,  have  ended  in  disaster  and  humiliation.  In  two 
directions  the  Greeks  looked  for  increase  of  territory.  They 
desired  to  annex  Crete,  and  to  push  their  noi-thern  boundary 
forward  so  that  it  might  include  Thessaly,  and  even  Macedo- 
nia and  adjacent  tracts.  Accordingly,  when  the  Cretans 
revolted  from  Turkey  in  1866,  the  Greeks  took  a   profound 


PART  II  THE   BALKAN   STATES  165 

interest  in  the  movement  and  tried  to  direct  it  to  their  own 
advantage.  But  their  efforts  failed.  Crete  was  subjugated  by 
the  Porte  in  1869 ;  nor  were  charges  wanting  that  the  Greeks, 
instead  of  helping  the  struggling  Cretans,  had  played  into  the 
hands  of  the  Turks  when  they  found  that  their  scheme  for 
annexing  the  island  was  impracticable.^  Again,  in  1878,  when 
the  Berlin  Treaty  was  made,  Greece  suffered  further  disap- 
pointment. While  Turkey  was  absorbed  in  its  conflict  with 
Russia,  the  Greeks  had  raised  an  insurrection  in  Thessaly 
with  the  hope  of  adding  it  to  their  own  territory.  The  insur- 
rection was  brought  to  a  sudden  end  through  British  interven- 
tion ;  but  the  Greeks  expected  that  their  boundaries  wordd  be 
greatly  enlarged  when  the  powers  met  to  settle  the  questions 
arising  from  the  Russo-Turkish  War.  But  to  their  great 
indignation  the  powers  would  do  nothing  for  them  at  the  Ber- 
lin conference.  It  was  not  till  1881  that  the  Sultan,  acting 
under  foreign  pressure,  ceded  Thessaly  to  Greece ;  Macedonia, 
which  the  Greeks  claimed  with  doubtful  justice,  was  still 
included  in  the  boundaries  of  Turkey. 

But  the  day  of  national  shame  and  sorrow  came  in  1897. 
For  at  the  end  of  1895  an  insurrection  again  broke  out  among 
the  Christian  inhabitants  of  Crete,  and  very  soon  all  Greece 
was  aflame  with  excitement.  The  time  for  annexing  the 
island  seemed  to  have  come.  King  George  was  forced  into 
espousing  the  Cretan  cause,  and  in  February,  1897,  he  de- 
spatched a  Greek  squadron  to  aid  the  insurgents.  Alarmed 
by  this  action,  which  foreboded  war  between  Greece  and  Tur- 
kej^,  the  powers  attempted  to  coerce  Greece,  and  prevent  her 
from  committing  further  acts  of  hostility  against  the  Porte. 
But  the  ardor  of  the  Greek  nation  could  not  be  restrained. 
Once  more  did  a  secret  society  use  all  its  influence  to  bring  on 
a  war  with  Turkey.  The  members  of  the  Ethnike  Hetairia, 
acting,  as  it  subsequently  proved,  under  the  direct  advice  of  the 
Prime  Minister,  M.  Delyannis,  made  raids  across  the  frontier 
into  Turkish  territory  and  thus  provoked  the  Turks  to  invade 
Greece.  But  the  military  prowess  of  the  Greeks  did  not  equal 
their  enthusiasm.  Their  armies  were  no  match  for  those  of 
Turkey,  and  were  steadily  driven  back  from  the  frontier  of 
Thessaly,  where  hostilities  began.      The   war   was   formally 

1  The  Nation,  G4 :  200  and  433. 


166  SOUTHEASTERN   EUROPE    AND   RUSSIA  book  i 

declared  on  April  17;  by  May  20  the  Greeks  were  completely 
vanquished.  Indeed,  they  never  had  the  smallest  chance  of 
success.  The  Greeks  were  poorly  disciplined  and  poorly  gen- 
eralled.^  Yet  they  fought  gallantly,  and  their  defeat  was 
viewed  with,  concern  by  the  friends  of  civilization  and  prog- 
ress. For  the  Porte,  flashed  with  victory,  made  extravagant 
claims  upon  its  vanquished  opponent.  It  demanded  the 
cession  of  Thessaly,  and  an  indemnity  amounting  to  about 
$44,000,000.  Not  Avithout  great  difficulty  and  much  nego- 
tiation did  the  powers  induce  the  Sultan  to  modify  these 
demands.  But  he  Anally  consented  to  fix  the  indemnity  at 
£4,000,000  Turkish  (about  $17,600,000),  and  to  accept  in 
place  of  Thessaly  a  rectification  of  the  frontier,  which  placed 
a  number  of  important  strategic  positions  in  his  possession. 
Accordingly,  a  treaty  embodying  these  conditions  was  signed 
September  18,  1897 ;  and,  peace  being  thus  firmly  established, 
the  country  grew  quiet,  though  the  concessions  made  to  Turkey 
were  loudly  condemned  for  a  time  and  necessitated  the  resigna- 
tion of  the  Ministry  that  had  sanctioned  them. 

But  the  troubles  in  Crete  which  had  led  to  the  war  with 
Turkey  still  continued,  and  were  only  brought  to  an  end  by 
vigorous  action  on  the  part  of  the  powers.  In  September, 
1898,  the  Mohammedan  refugees  in  Crete  killed  one  hundred 
British  soldiers  and  massacred  a  thousand  Christians,  while 
the  Turkish  troops  looked  supinely  on  or  even  joined  in  the 
acts  of  wantonness  and  violence.  The  Sultan  was  therefore 
obliged  to  remove  his  troops  from  the  island,  and  the  powers 
took  Crete  under  their  own  control  while  the  appointment  of  a 
governor  was  pending.  But  in  1899  Prince  George  of  Greece 
was  made  High  Commissioner  of  Crete,  and  undertook  the 
administration  of  its  affairs. 

During  the  excitement  that   followed  the  reverses  of   the 

1  The  democratic  spirit  that  prevails  among  the  Greeks  seems  to  make  it 
impossible  to  subject  them  to  soldierly  discipline.  Their  condition  through- 
out the  campaign  of  1897  was  like  that  of  the  army  of  the  Potomac  before 
General  McClellan  made  it  a  well-ordered  and  efiicient  force.  And  there 
was  the  same  laxity  among  the  officials  of  the  war  department  and  the  gen- 
erals in  command  that  there  was  among  tlie  rank  and  file.  "  At  no  time 
was  there  a  single  strong  mind  dominating  the  Greek  army."  Consult  "  How 
the  Greeks  were  Defeated,"  in  tlie  Furuin  for  November,  1897,  especially 
p.  361,  and  "  With  the  Greek  Soldiers,"  in  Harper's  Magazine  for  November, 
1897. 


PART  II  THE   BALKAN    STATES  107 

Greeks  iu  tlieir  struggle  with  Turkey,  it  was  doubtful  whether 
the  royal  family  would  not  be  driven  from  power.  Always, 
indeed,  in  a  great  national  crisis  the  position  of  King  George 
seems  insecure.  For  nearly  three  quarters  of  a  century  Greece 
has  been  subjected  to  foreign  rule,  and  the  experiment  cannot 
be  considered  an  unmixed  success.  Under  the  present  Sover- 
eign the  country  has  undoubtedly  made  rapid  progress;  but 
his  own  contribution  to  this  progress,  though  great,  has  not 
been  vital.  The  Greeks,  with  all  their  faults  of  dissimulation, 
selfishness,  vanity,  and  hasty  temper,  are  an  alert,  earnest,  and 
ambitious  people,  industrious  and  thrifty,  lovers  of  art  and 
education,  eager  for  improvement.  It  would  therefore  seem 
fairer  and  wiser  to  let  them  work  out  their  own  problems  of 
self-government  and  constitutional  development.  Only  in 
this  way  can  they  make  a  genuine  contribution  to  political 
science. 

III.    Rumania 

The  Vlachs,  or  Eumans,  have  been  too  scattered  to  unite 
into  a  single  nation.  Those  dwelling  in  Transylvania  could 
hardly  break  away  from  Hungary ;  and  those  whose  home  was 
south  of  the  Danube  were  too  widely  distributed  to  have  na- 
tional aspirations.  But  that  portion  of  the  race  which  lives 
east  of  the  Carpathians  and  north  of  the  lower  Daniibe  has  had  a 
more  fortunate  destiny.  It  has  succeeded  in  forming  a  sepa- 
rate and  independent  state,  which  has  an  honorable  place  among 
the  minor  kingdoms  of  Europe. 

That  kingdom  is,  as  the  secpiel  will  show,  of  very  recent  ori- 
gin ;  but  the  principalities  of  which  it  is  composed  have  existed 
for  more  than  six  hundred  years.  In  the  thirteenth  century 
Wallachia  and  Moldavia  first  came  into  being,  and  for  a  long 
time  they  maintained  their  independence.  But  the  Ottoman 
power,  with  its  hosts  of  fighting  men,  proved  to  be  more  than  a 
match  for  them.  They  resisted  it  long  and  fiercely,  but  in  1511 
they  were  subjugated  and  became  vassal  provinces  of  the  Otto- 
man Empire.  So  those  Vlachs  east  of  the  Carpathians,  like 
their  kinsmen  south  of  the  Danube,  became  acquainted  with 
Turkish  rapacity.  The  hospodars,  or  governors,  of  Wallachia 
and  Moldavia  were  appointed  by  the  Sultan,  and  they  ruled  in 


168  SOUTHEASTERN   EUROPE  AND   RUSSIA  book  i 


the  interest  of  their  master  rather  than  for  the  well-being  of 
the  provinces. 

Yet  the  Danubian  Principalities,  as  Wallachia  and  Moldavia 
were  termed,  did  not  suffer  the  worst  consequences  of  Turkish 
misrule.     They  were  separated  by  the  Danube  from  the  centre 
of  the  Ottoman  tyranny,  and  they  were  on  the  border-land  of 
Russia,  that  ancient  foe  of  the  Turkish  Empire ;  so  their  people 
did  not  sit  down  in  blood  and  ashes  to  bewail  their  misery  as 
often  as  the  races  which  dwell  round  the  Balkan  Mountains. 
Accordingly,  the  dawn  of  the  century  did  not  find  the  Danu- 
bian Principalities  in  a  restless  condition ;  and  when  the  Greek 
insurrection  broke  out  in  1821,  these  quiet  and  peaceable  Vlachs 
did  not  rush  into  rebellion.     Unfortunately  for  them,  however, 
a  Phanariot  Greek,  named  Alexander  Ypsilanti,  entered  Molda- 
via and  Wallachia,  called  upon  the  people  to  follow  the  exam- 
ple of  the  Greeks,  and  raised  the  standard  of  insurrection.     He 
was  coldly  received,   and   he   was   soon   overpowered  by  the 
Turkish  forces   and  compelled  to  fly  across  the  Carpathians 
into  Transylvania;   none  the  less  the  Turkish  authority  had 
been  assailed  and  the  Turkish  thirst  for  vengeance  was  excited. 
The  Janizaries  were  let  loose  upon  the  unhappy  Principalities, 
and  their  inhabitants  now  tasted  the  horrors  of  that  rule  which 
they  had  not  been  willing  to  defy.     But  after  a  time  the  Tsar 
Nicholas  interfered  in  their  behalf  and  took  the  provinces  un- 
der his  protection,  for  he  was   loath  to  see  regions  which  he 
might  one  day  own  wasted  and  despoiled.     By  the  Treaty  of 
Akerman,  made  betAveen  Russia  and  Turkey  on  September  4, 
1826,  the  hospodars  of  Wallachia  and  Moldavia  were  no  longer 
to  be  absolutely  under  Turkish  authority,  and  were  not  to  be 
removed  without  the  consent  of  the  Russian  Government. 

This  was  not  independence,  for  the  Porte  still  had  the  right 
to  appoint  the  hospodars  of  the  two  Principalities ;  but  it  was 
certainly  a  step  toward  freedom,  and  in  1858  a  still  more  de- 
cided advance  was  made  in  the  same  direction.  In  that  year 
it  was  determined  by  a  conference  of  the  powers  at  Paris  that 
Wallachia  and  Moldavia  should  be  allowed  to  elect  their  own 
hospodars,  though  the  suzerainty  of  Turkey  was  still  recognized, 
and  the  union  which  the  provinces  had  been  attempting  to  estab- 
lish was  annulled.  But  it  was  in  vain  that  the  powers  opposed 
a  step  that  was  natural  and  inevitable.     The  people  of  the  two 


PART  II  THE   BALKAN   STATES  169 

Principalities  were  of  the  same  blood ;  they  were  determined 
to  be  one  in  name  and  destiny.  Availing  themselves  of  the  per- 
mission of  the  powers  to  choose  their  own  hospodar,  the  Prin- 
cipalities each  elected  the  same  ruler  in  1859,  Colonel  Alexander 
Cuza,  and  thus  made  the  way  to  union  sure  and  easy.  In  ISfJl 
the  union  was  accomplished,  the  two  countries  declaring  them- 
selves one  under  the  name  of  Rumania  and  obtaining  the  Porte's 
approval  of  the  arrangement. 

But  though  union  was  effected  under  Prince  Cuza,  he  proved 
but  a  sorry  ruler.  True,  a  new  Constitution,  extending  the  suf- 
frage, was  adopted  under  his  reign ;  but  his  own  power  was 
increased  at  the  same  time,  and  his  arbitrary  use  of  it  and  his 
personal  vices  made  him  detested  by  the  whole  Rumanian  peo- 
ple. So  in  1866  he  was  compelled  to  abdicate.  Prince  Charles 
of  Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen  was  chosen  to  succeed  him,  after 
the  crown  had  been  declined  by  the  Count  of  Flanders ;  and 
under  his  enlightened  administration  the  country  made  steady 
progress.  The  authority  of  the  Porte  became  more  and  more 
shadowy,  until  it  was  absolutely  set  aside.  For  in  1874  Austria, 
Germany,  and  Russia  insisted  on  making  separate  treaties  with 
Rumania  in  spite  of  the  protests  of  the  Sultan;  and  in  1878 
Rumania  was  declared  independent  by  the  Treaty  of  Berlin. 
At  the  same  time  the  boundaries  of  the  country  were  readjusted. 
Dobrudja,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Danube,  had  been  ceded  to  Russia 
by  the  Porte,  and  this  district  Russia  made  over  to  Rumania, 
exacting  as  compensation  a  portion  of  Bessarabia  which  jVtolda- 
via  had  acquired  in  1856  by  the  Treaty  of  Paris.  This  exchange 
of  territory  ought  to  have  been  to  the  advantage  of  Rumania ; 
for  Prince  Charles's  troops  had  given  Russia  material  assistance 
in  her  struggle  with  Turkey  in  1877 -1878,  and  their  gallantry 
at  the  siege  of  Plevna  had  proved  that  the  Rumanian  Vlachs 
could  be  first-rate  soldiers.  But  it  was  Russia  rather  than  Ru- 
mania that  profited  by  this  new  territorial  arrangement,  and 
the  Tsar  was  thought  to  have  been  ungenerous  toward  his  recent 
ally.^ 

1  A  study  of  the  boundaries  of  Rumania  before  and  after  1878  might  lead 
one  to  suppose  that  Dobruil  ja  was  an  excellent  exchange  for  the  portion  of 
territory  that  was  given  up  to  Russia :  for  Dobrudja  is  much  tlie  larger  of 
the  two,  and  it  greatly  increases  Rumania's  coast-line  on  the  Black  Sea. 
But  it  is  an  arid  and  sparsely  settled  region  (consult  Vivien  de  Saint-Mar- 
tin's "  Nouveau  Dictionnaire  de  (ieographie  Universelle,"  Tome   II,    article 


170  SOUTHEASTERN   EUROPE   AND   RUSSIA  book  i 

The  independence  of  Rumania  which  was  granted  at  Berlin 
was  in  dne  time  formally  acknowledged  by  the  powers.  It  was 
recognized  by  England,  France,  and  Germany  in  1880;  and  in 
the  following  year  Prince  Charles  and  his  wife  were  crowned 
King  and  Queen  of  Rumania.  Thus  the  two  ancient  Principali- 
ties had  finally  grown  into  a  nation. 

Rumania  has  an  area  of  48,307  square  miles,  and  a  popula- 
tion of  about  6,000,000.  The  national  debt  is  a  little  less  than 
$250,000,000.  The  executive  power  of  the  country  is  vested 
in  the  King,  aided  by  a  Prime  Minister  and  a  Cabinet  of  eight. 
There  are  two  legislative  Houses:  the  Senate,  composed  of 
120  members  who  are  elected  for  eight  years ;  and  the  Chamber, 
composed  of  183  members  who  are  elected  for  four  years.  The 
right  of  suffrage  belongs  to  all  male  citizens  who  are  of  age 
and  who  pay  taxes  to  the  State ;  but  the  system  of  voting  is 
somewhat  complicated.  Por  choosing  senators  the  electors  are 
divided  into  two  colleges  according  to  property  or  educational 
qualifications ;  for  choosing  members  of  the  Chamber  they  are 
divided  into  three  colleges.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  the  King 
has  the  power  to  veto  all  legislation.  The  chief  occupation  of 
the  Rumanian  people  is  agriculture,  large  quantities  of  the 
cereals  being  sent  abroad  every  year.  The  export  and  import 
trade  of  the  country  is  slowly  but  steadily  growing. 

r 

IV.    Bulgaria 

The  Bulgarians  suffered  like  the  other  races  that  were  sub- 
ject to  the  Porte,  but  they  were  slow  in  raising  the  standard 
of  insurrection.  During  the  first  three  quarters  of  the  century 
they  engaged  in  no  general  revolt,  sporadic  encounters  between 
maddened  peasants  and  plundering  Turks  being  their  only  mani- 
festations of  disaffection.  But  gradually  they  were  roused  to 
desperation  by  the  cruel  nature  of  the  Turkish  policy  toward 

"  Dnbroudja  ")  ;  and  its  value  may  be  judged  from  the  fact  that  Prince  Charles 
strongly  objected  to  tlie  arrangement  by  which  the  Tsar  forced  it  upon  him. 
Alexander  is  said  to  have  been  subsequently  ashamed  of  his  treatment  of 
Rumania  at  this  time,  but  he  considered  it  a  religious  duty  to  get  back  all 
that  he  had  been  obliged  to  surrender  by  the  Treaty  of  Paris  {Fortnighthj 
Review,  .50:  802).  The  attitude  of  Prince  Charles  and  the  Rumanians  toward 
the  question  is  shown  in  Whitman's  "  Reminiscences  of  the  King  of  Rumania," 
pp.  301-323. 


PART  ]i  THE   BALKAN   STATES  171 

them.  For  after  the  Crimean  War  the  Turkish  Government 
oppressed  them  in  every  possible  way,  its  aim  being  to  drive 
them  out  of  their  territory  and  replace  them  Avith  Tartars  and 
Circassians.  In  this  way  the  Porte  hoped  to  form  the  Balkan 
provinces  into  a  barrier  against  the  Russians,  who  might  be 
tempted  to  cross  the  Danube  by  the  supplications  of  a  friendly 
power.  But  in  this  policy  the  Turks  quite  overreached  them- 
selves. The  Circassians  plundered  the  Bulgarians  past  endur- 
ance, and  in  1875  the  infuriated  people  rose  in  rebellion.  And 
thus  was  started  that  series  of  events  which  resulted  in  the 
complete  humiliation  of  Turkey,  The  Bulgarian  revolt  was 
suppressed  with  such  awful  cruelty  that  the  Turk  was  exe- 
crated all  over  the  civilized  world.  Servia  and  Montenegro 
now  took  up  arms  against  the  Porte,  and  when  their  discom- 
fiture seemed  imminent,  Ilussia  took  the  field  in  behalf  of  the 
Sultan's  long-suffering  Christian  subjects  (p.  188).  Thus  by  his 
very  rapacity  and  cruelty  the  Turk,  instead  of  strengthening 
himself,  brought  down  merited  vengeance  upon  his  head.  By 
the  Berlin  Congress  he  was  deprived  of  that  very  province 
which  he  had  treated  with  such  shameless  barbarity.  Bulgaria 
was  by  that  body  made  an  autonomous  principality,  tributary 
to  the  Sultan;  the  Balkans  were  established  as  its  southern 
boundary ;  its  ruler  was  to  be  approved  by  the  Sultan,  but  to 
be  chosen  by  the  Bulgarian  people. 

Thus  Bulgaria  was  at  last  delivered  from  a  tyrannous  rule 
which  had  lasted  for  nearly  five  centuries,  the  kingdom  of 
Bulgaria  having  been  conquered  by  Bajazet  and  annexed  to 
the  Ottoman  Empire  in  lo96.  Though  its  freedom  was  not 
yet  complete,  it  was  now  free  enough  to  establish  constitutional 
government,  and  this  it  did  by  adopting  a  Constitution  early 
in  1879.  By  this  Constitution  a  single  legislative  Chamber, 
called  the  National  Assembly  of  Bulgaria,  was  established, 
and  one  of  the  first  duties  of  this  newly  constituted  body  was 
the  election  of  a  ruler.  By  a  unanimous  vote  it  chose  Prince 
Alexander  of  Battenburg,  who  was  approved  by  the  Porte  and 
the  powers,  and  who  assumed  the  duties  of  government  on 
June  29,  1879.  He  was  an  able  man  and  a  high-minded  one, 
but  from  the  first  he  found  the  task  of  ruling  an  alien  people 
difficult  and  thorny.  Bulgaria  is,  like  Servia,  the  seat  of 
Ivussian  intrigue.     Lying  between  Kussia  and  Constantinople, 


172  SOUTHEASTERN   EUROPE   AND   RUSSIA  book  i 

and  inhabited  by  a  people  who,  though  of  Finnish  origin,  have 
become  Slavic  in  language  and  characteristics,  it  inevitably 
excites  the  interest  and  cupidity  of  the  great  neighboring 
Slavic  Empire.  The  Tsar's  agents  are  always  at  its  capital, 
Sofia,  and  so  strong  is  their  inHuence  that  the  government  is 
practically  under  Russian  control.  Moreover,  republican  prin- 
ciples have  found  converts  among  the  sturdy  Bulgarian  people, 
and  have  created  a  sentiment  in  favor  of  thoroughly  demo- 
cratic institutions.  And  while  this  sentiment  is  not  wide- 
spread, it  sometimes  makes  itself  heard. 

Naturally,  therefore,  Prince  Alexander  soon  found  that  he 
must  face  decided  opposition.  He  did  not  well  understand 
the  temper  of  the  Bulgarian  people  and  at  first  he  aroused  their 
antagonism  by  disregarding  the  wishes  of  his  ministers  and 
attempting  to  rule  as  an  autocrat.  Soon  after  the  beginning 
of  his  reign  he  had  difficulties  with  his  Cabinet  which  led  to 
the  dissolution  of  the  Assembly  in  December,  1879 ;  and  in 
the  elections  that  followed  prominent  Liberals  spoke  so  con- 
temptuously of  Prince  Alexander  in  their  public  addresses 
that  he  deemed  it  necessary  to  arrest  them.  But  seeing  the 
folly  of  this  course,  he  soon  abandoned  his  dictatorial  methods 
of  governing  and  established  an  intimate  relationship  with 
Stephen  Stambuloff,  the  leader  of  the  Liberal  party.  This 
remarkable  man  was  already  beginning  to  attract  the  attention 
of  Europe,  though  he  was  now  only  twenty-five  years  of  age. 
Possessing  an  iron  tenacity  of  purpose,  great  foresight,  and  a 
lofty  devotion  to  unselfish  ends,  he  was  for  many  years  the 
centre  of  resistance  to  foreign  intrigue  and  aggression.  Alex- 
ander could  not  have  had  a  wiser  and  better  counsellor,  and  he 
learned  to  profit  by  Stambuloff's  decision  and  shrewdness,  and 
not  to  be  offended  by  his  masterful  personality.  Aided  by 
this  sound  adviser  and  by  his  own  good  judgment,  Alexander 
was  for  a  time  successful  in  overcoming  opposition  and  winning 
the  respect  of  the  Bulgarian  people.  In  1885  he  did  much  to 
streugthen  his  power  by  annexing  Eastern  Kumelia  to  his 
principality.  This  tract  south  of  the  Balkans  belonged  to 
Bulgaria,  but  in  1878  the  Berlin  Congress  made  it  into  a 
separate  province  and  placed  it  under  the  direct  military  and 
political  authority  of  the  Sultan.  Its  people,  however,  would 
not  submit  to  tliis  despotic  arrangement,  which  had  been  due 


PART  II  THE   BALKAN   STATES  173 

to  Lord  Beaconsfield's  sympathy  for  the  Tixrk.  On  the  night 
of  September  17, 1885,  they  overthrew  the  Sultan's  government 
and  immediately  proclaimed  the  union  of  their  province  with 
Bulgaria.  Alexander  was  quick  to  see  his  opportunity.  Ac- 
cepting the  results  of  the  revolution,  he  assumed  the  govern- 
ment of  the  province,  and  in  April  of  the  following  year  he 
was  confirmed  in  it  by  a  firman  of  the  Sultan. 

The  energy  and  promptness  with  which  Alexander  acted  in 
this  matter  made  him  popular  with  the  Bulgarian  people,  and 
his  popularity  was  straightway  increased  by  a  display  of  mili- 
tary genius.  For  the  Servians,  made  angry  and  jealous  by 
the  annexation  of  Eastern  Rumelia  and  the  increase  of  power 
which  it  involved,  assumed  a  very  arrogant  and  offensive  tone 
toward  Bulgaria  and  forced  it  into  war.  As  the  Servians  had 
the  larger  and  better  drilled  army,  they  expected  to  be  easily 
victorious.  But  to  their  own  surprise  and  that  of  all  Europe 
also,  they  found  themselves  entirely  overmatched.  Through 
the  courage  and  strategy  of  Prince  Alexander  the  Bulgarian 
array  completely  routed  its  opponents,  and  the  Servian  King 
was  soon  forced  to  sign  a  treaty  of  peace.  Had  it  not  been  for 
the  intervention  of  Austria,  the  Bulgarians  would  have  carried 
the  war  into  their  enemy's  country  and  subjected  them  to  still 
greater  humiliation. 

Thus  Alexander's  prospects  seemed  encouraging,  and  but  for 
the  continuous  interference  of  Russia  he  would  probably  have 
had  a  successful  and  prosperous  reign.  But  in  1886  his  army 
revolted  at  the  instigation  of  Russian  agents,  and  the  Prince 
himself  was  kidnapped  by  a  band  of  conspirators  and  carried 
into  Russian  territory  after  he  had  just  signed  his  abdication. 
Through  the  prompt  and  vigorous  action  of  Stambuloff  the 
conspiracy  was  crushed,  and  Alexander,  on  returning  into 
Bulgaria,  was  greeted  with  enthusiasm  by  the  army  and  the 
people.  The  danger  that  had  been  so  threatening  seemed  to 
have  passed  by,  and  Stambuloff  confidently  expected  that  the 
Prince  would  now  be  master  of  the  situation.  But  just  at 
this  critical  moment  Alexander  committed  a  serious  blunder. 
Though  he  knew  that  the  Emperor  of  Russia,  Alexander  III., 
was  unfriendly  to  him,  he  was  induced  to  send  to  that  austere 
monarch  a  message  expressing  his  own  good-will  and  desire 
to  please,  and  inviting  a  friendly  reply.     But  the  Emperor's 


174  SOUTHEASTERN   EUROPE   AND   RUSSIA  book  i 


answer  was  so  cold  and  formal  as  to  convey  a  severe  rebuke. 
Still  the  case  was  by  no  means  hopeless.  Stambuloff,  much  as 
he  regretted  Alexander's  mistake,  encouraged  him  to  believe 
that  he  could  face  down  all  opposition  if  he  showed  a  bold 
front  and  acted  with  unflinching  determination.  But  the 
prince  was  not  of  heroic  mould.  Seeing  that  his  path  would 
be  beset  with  difficulties,  he  lost  heart  and  courage,  and  aban- 
doned the  struggle  against  intrigue  and  unprincipled  opposi- 
tion. On  the  7th  of  September  he  again  abdicated,  and 
immediately  left  the  country,  never  to  return.  Stambuloff 
sorrowfully  escorted  him  out  of  the  capital,  where  for  seven 
years  he  had  sat  upon  an  uneasy  throne.  His  death  occurred 
on  November  17,  1893. 

He  was  succeeded   by  a  ruler  of  less  ability  and  weaker 
character,  Ferdinand,  Duke  of  Saxony,  who  was  elected  Prince 
of  Bulgaria  on  July  7, 1887.     Though  he  assumed  the  functions 
of  government  without  delay,  it  was  nearly  ten  years  before 
his  election  was  confirmed  by  the   powers.     But   finally,  in 
1896,  his  title  was  formally  recognized  through  the  mediation 
of  the  Sultan.     That  this  delay  was  prejudicial  to  him  can 
hardly  be  asserted,  but  he  has  encountered  the  same  obstacles 
that  proved  fatal  to  the  success  of   Prince  Alexander.     The 
country    is   divided    into   the    anti-Russian    and    pro-Russian 
parties,  and  owing  to  their  ceaseless  and  bitter  warfare,  it 
knows  little  political  quiet.     For  some  years  Stambuloff  con- 
tinued to  lead  the  anti-Russian  party,  and  showed  such  dis- 
tinguished ability  that  he  was  recognized  as  one  of  the  great 
men  of  his  time.     The  office  of  Prime  Minister,  to  which  he 
was  appointed  by  Prince  Alexander,  he   continued   to  hold 
under  Prince  Ferdinand  until  his  vigorous  policy  raised  up 
formidable  enemies  and  wrought   his  downfall.     It  was   his 
steadfast  aim  to  create  a  national   spirit  among  the  people 
and  to  remove  dissensions,  and  in  the  prosecution  of  these  ends 
he  crushed  treasonable  conspiracies  and  thrust  his  opponents 
aside  with  a  heavy  hand.     But  his  arbitrary  methods  caused 
the  feeling  against  him  to  grow  intense  and  bitter,  and  Fer- 
dinand, who   disliked   his    uncompromising   and   overbearing 
temper,  joined  the  ranks  of  his  enemies  and  treated  him  with 
harshness  and  indecency.     In  1894  he  was  compelled  to  resign, 
and  in  the  following  year  he  was  the  victim  of  a  cruel  and 


PART  11  THE    BALKAN   STATES  175 

dastardly  assault  upon  his  life.  Even  at  his  funeral  his 
enemies  did  not  refrain  from  indecent  manifestations  of 
hatred. 

In  spite  of  the  taking  off  of  this  leader  of  the  anti-Eussian 
party  the  Tsar  continued  to  be  unfriendly  to  Prince  Ferdinand, 
whom  he  pronounced  a  "  usurper."  But  in  time  the  concilia- 
tory attitude  of  the  prince  overcame  this  opposition,  and  when 
Prince  Boris,  heir  to  the  throne  of  Bulgaria,  was  baptized  into 
the  Greek  Church,  the  Tsar,  through  a  representative,  acted 
as  sponsor  at  the  ceremony.  It  was  not  long  after  this  that 
the  powers  recognized  Ferdinand  as  Prince  of  Bulgaria,  as 
already  stated. 

Notwithstanding  these  disturbing  political  conditions  Bul- 
garia has  made  commendable  progress  since  it  was  relieved 
from  Turkish  misrule.  Its  schools  have  received  the  heartiest 
commendation  from  foreign  visitors  ; '  its  imports  and  exports 
have  increased ;  the  resources  of  the  country  have  been  explored 
and  developed. 

Bulgaria,  including  Eastern  Rumelia,  which  is  now  known  as 
Southern  Bulgaria,  contains  a  little  more  than  thirty-eight  thou- 
sand square  miles  and  has  a  population  of  about  three  and  a 
half  millions.  The  Prince  in  his  capacity  of  chief  executive  is 
assisted  by  a  Council  of  Ministers.  The  legislative  power  is 
vested  in  the  single  Chamber  which  was  established  by  the 
Constitution  of  1879.  The  members  are  elected  by  universal 
manhood  suffrage  and  sit  for  five  years ;  but  the  Prince  can 
dissolve  the  Assembly  at  his  pleasure.  The  delegates  to  the 
National  Assembly  are  chosen  in  the  proportion  of  one  to  every 
twenty  thoiisand ;  but  there  is  a  Great  Assembly,  whose  dele- 
gates are  elected  in  the  proportion  of  one  to  every  ten  thou- 
sand, and  to  which  constitutional  questions  must  be  referred. 
The  Orthodox  Greek  Church  is  recognized  as  the  State  religion, 
but  many  Mohammedans  are  found  among  the  population. 

Thus,  of  the  five  races  enumerated  in  the  early  portion  of 
the  chapter,  —  the  Greeks,  the  Albanians,  the  Vlachs,  the  Serbs, 
and  the  Bulgarians,  —  all  have  become  free  excepting  one.  Not 
indeed  that  all  the  members  of  these  races  have  been  equally 
fortunate.  Undoubtedly  there  are  Greeks,  Vlachs,  Serbs,  and 
Bulgarians  still  under  Turkish  rule,  for  these  races  have  been 

1  Samuelsou's  "  Bulgari.i." 


176  SOUTHEASTERN   EUROPE   AND   RUSSIA  book  i 

SO  mixed  and  scattered  that  no  one  of  them  couki  hope  to  win 
liberty  for  all  belonging  to  it  until  the  Turk  should  be  driven 
out  of  Europe.  But  European  Turkey  has  been  so  curtailed  in 
the  course  of  the  century,  that  most  of  the  people  who  used  to 
be  plundered  and  tortured  by  the  Sultan's  agents  are  no  longer 
subjects  of  the  Porte. 

One  brave  race,  however,  has  not  yet  succeeded  in  freeing 
itself  from  the  Ottoman  tyranny.  The  Albanians  still  own 
the  Sultan  as  tlieir  master,  and  still  dread  the  visitation  of 
the  Turkish  tax-collector.  But  it  has  been  the  force  of  cir- 
cumstances rather  than  lack  of  energy  and  courage  that  has 
kept  them  from  gaining  their  freedom.  When  the  Greeks 
rose  in  1821  the  Albanians  offered  to  help  them,  but  their 
advances  were  coldly  received.  Thus  a  miserable  race  jeal- 
ousy prevented  two  gallant  peoples  from  uniting  against  their 
common  enemy,  and  made  the  struggle  of  the  Greeks  more 
arduous  than  it  needed  to  have  been,  and  the  lot  of  the  Al- 
banians less  fortunate  than  that  of  neighboring  races.  For, 
stung  by  the  unfriendliness  of  the  Greeks,  they  have  made 
no  alliances  with  surrounding  peoples,  and  they  have  not  been 
strong  enough  to  cope  with  Turkey  alone.  They  have  indeed 
been  brave  enough  to  attempt  this  impossible  task.  They  re- 
belled in  1843  and  again  in  1880,  but  in  each  case  they  were 
soon  suppressed.  Yet  they  have  undoubtedly  profited  by  the 
freedom  which  Greece,  Servia,  and  Bulgaria  have  won.  The 
Turk  has  learned  that  it  cannot  torture  its  European  subjects 
without  calling  down  the  vengeance  of  the  powers.  So  it  in- 
flicts its  worst  atrocities  upon  the  unhappy  Armenians,  and  lets 
the  races  nearer  home  go  comparatively  unmolested.  But  at 
best  the  condition  of  a  people  under  Turkish  rule  is  not  to  be 
envied.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  Albanians  will  ultimately 
pass  under  a  more  enlightened  government.  At  the  same 
time,  it  is  impossible  to  foresee  what  lot  will  befall  them 
when  the  "  Sick  Man "  dies.  It  does  not  seem  probable 
that  they  will  be  allowed  to  form  a  separate  state  and 
add  one  more  to  the  petty  kingdoms  south  of  the  Danube; 
yet  they  are  too  proud  to  merge  their  destiny  in  that  of 
any  neighboring  race. 

One  more  country  of  Southeastern  Europe  remains  to  be 
considered,   but    it   cannot   be   classed  with    those   that  have 


PAKT  II  THE   BALKAN   STATES  177 

wrested  their  freedom  from  the  Turk,  for  that  country  has 
never  been  completely  conquered  by  the  Ottoman  power.  It 
is  the  little  kingdom  of  Montenegro. 

V.    Monteyiegro 

Consisting  largely  of  rugged  mountains,  this  state,  insignifi- 
cant in  size  and  numbers,  has  successfully  defied  the  Aviiule 
strength  of  Turkey.  Its  present  inhabitants  are  the  descend- 
ants of  a  body  of  Servians  who  took  refuge  in  this  mountain- 
ous tract  after  their  own  country  had  been  conquered  by  the 
Turks  in  1389.  From  that  time  on  they  maintained  a  desper- 
ate struggle  with  their  implacable  foe.  Again  and  again  the 
Turks  overran  their  country,  burned  their  capital,  and  slew 
and  captured  a  large  number  of  their  people.  But  there 
always  remained  a  remnant  to  carry  on  the  war  and  defy  the 
Ottoman  invader.  And  finally,  in  1878,  that  independen(!e 
which  they  had  never  surrendered  was  formally  acknowledged 
by  the  Sultan.  At  the  same  time  the  Congress  of  Berlin, 
recognizing  and  rewarding  their  splendid  heroism,  increased 
their  scanty  domain  with  grants  of  adjoining  territory.  Mon- 
tenegro now  comprises  about  thirty-five  hundred  square  miles, 
and  has  a  population  of  something  less  than  a  quarter  of  a 
million. 

But  in  this  brave  little  kingdom  there  has  been  but  a  very 
feeble  growth  in  the  direction  of  constitutional  government. 
Its  people,  sturdy  and  independent  as  they  are,  do  not  feel 
the  need  of  a  written  document  to  protect  their  rights.  The 
patriarchal  spirit  is  still  strong  in  the  country.  There  exists 
an  innate  respect  for  authority,  together  with  a  rude  and 
primitive  feeling  of  equality  which  puts  prince  and  peasant 
very  much  on  the  same  level.  The  Montenegrins  obey  their 
ruler  because  they  trust  him ;  but  there  is  no  servility  in  their 
submission.  Heroes  themselves,  they  render  homage  to  a 
hero.  A  weak  and  tame-spirited  prince  could  hardly  control 
their  fierce  and  rugged  temper.  Accordingly,  their  land  has 
not  been  a  scene  of  popular  uprisings  and  civil  discord.  Al- 
most annihilated  in  151G  and  deserted  by  their  prince,  the 
Montenegrins  put  themselves  under  the  lead  of  their  bishop ; 
and  for  nearly  two  hundred  years  their  rulers  were  elected  by 

N 


178  SOUTHEASTERN   EUROPE   AND   RUSSIA  book  i 

themselves,  and  vested  with  both  spiritual  and  temporal 
sovereignty.  In  1697  they  partially  abandoned  this  right  of 
election,  as  Petrovitch  Nyegush  was  appointed  Vladika,  or 
prince-bishop,  with  the  right  of  choosing  his  own  successor, 
subject  to  the  national  approval.  The  succession  was  naturally 
kept  among  his  own  descendants,  and  the  reigning  Prince  of 
Montenegro  claims  Petrovitch  Nyegush  as  his  ancestor.  Por 
a  century  and  a  half  this  simple  and  theocratic  form  of  gov- 
ernment was  kept  without  change ;  but  in  1851  the  spiritual 
side  of  the  sovereignty  was  abandoned  upon  the  death  of 
Peter  Petrovitch,  who  was  thus  the  last  Vladika  of  Monte- 
negro. And  shortly  afterward  the  power  of  the  prince,  which 
had  been  absolute,  was  nominally  limited  and  'curtailed.  By 
the  Constitution,  which  was  granted  in  1852  and  changed  in 
1879,  the  reigning  Prince  has  executive  authority,  while  the 
legislative  power  is  vested  in  a  State  Council  of  eight  mem- 
bers, half  of  whom  are  appointed  by  the  Prince,  and  half  of 
whom  are  elected  by  the  people.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that 
in  this  military  state,  which  owes  its  very  existence  to  cen- 
turies of  warfare,  and  where  every  man  carries  his  pistol  and 
yataghan  in  his  girdle,  citizenship  is  coextensive  with  arms- 
bearing.  Only  those  who  can  fight  or  who  have  fought  for 
their  country  are  entitled  to  vote. 

But  although  Montenegro  is  thus  by  its  Constitution  a 
limited  monarchy,  it  is  still  practically  an  absolute  one. 
Everything  depends  on  the  will  of  the  Prince.  The  Monte- 
negrins are  still  a  lialf -bar baric  people  with  the  vices  and 
virtues  that  belonged  to  a  semi-civilized  state.  They  are  in- 
dustrious, brave,  and  temperate ;  but  they  are  still  too  rough 
and  primitive  to  develop  political  institutions  or  a  rich  and 
broad  intellectual  activity.  Education  is  free  and  compulsory, 
but  elementary ;  and  the  occupations  of  the  people  are  chiefly 
agricultural  and  pastoral. 

This  study  of  Southeastern  Europe  would  hardly  seem  com- 
plete without  some  mention  of  the  Turks  themselves;  for  all 
the  countries  that  have  been  considered,  with  the  possible 
exception  of  Montenegro,  have  been  a  part  of  European 
Turkey.  So  powerful  and  dominant  has  been  the  Ottoman 
race.     And  yet  it  is  only  by  courtesy  that  the  Turks  can  be 


PART  II  THE   BALKAN    STATES  179 

considered  in  a  study  of  constitutional  growth  and  political 
development.  They  have  no  politics ;  they  do  not  know  the 
meaning  of  constitutional  government.  The  Sultan  is  an 
autocrat,  and  if  he  is  removed  it  is  not  by  the  will  of  the 
people  but  by  the  intrigues  of  a  corrupt  and  shameless  court. 
True,  the  European  tendency  toward  constitutionalism  has 
found  expression.  But  the  expression  has  been  nothing  but 
a  mockery  and  a  sham.  The  Sultan  Abdul  Medjid  proclaimed 
a  Constitution  in  1856,  and  his  successors  have  followed  his 
example.  But  these  documents  are  absolutely  meaningless. 
In  spite  of  them  the  Sultans  go  on  doing  exactly  as  they 
please,  without  the  smallest  regard  for  the  feelings  of  their 
subjects.  The  Turks  have  no  rights  that  the  Sultan  does  not 
choose  to  give  them.  There  is,  however,  some  machinery  of 
government  The  Sultan  cannot  manage  the  affairs  of  his 
empire  without  organized  assistance,  and  he  has  to  help  him 
two  high  dignitaries,  the  Grand  Minister,  whose  functions  are 
very  much  like  those  of  a  prime  minister  and  who  has  a  cabi- 
net of  ministers  under  him,  and  the  Sheik-ul-Islam,  who  is 
the  head  of  the  Church.  Then  there  is  a  body  made  up  of 
eminent  judges,  theologians,  and  scholars  which  is  termed  the 
Ulema;  and  of  considerable  importance  are  the  Mufti,  who 
interpret  the  Koran.  For  the  Koran  is  almost  the  only  check 
upon  the  Sultan's  will.  His  decisions  must  be  in  accord  with  its 
sacred  teachings  as  expounded  by  the  Mufti ;  and  they  must 
not  contradict  the  laws  of  the  "  Multeka,"  which  embodies  the 
opinions  of  Mohammed  himself  and  his  immediate  successors. 
The  present  Sultan  of  Turkey  is  Abdul  Hamid  II.,  a  cruel  and 
vicious  ruler,  who  stands  directly  in  the  way  of  his  country's 
progress.  His  vices  are  recognized  by  the  more  liberal  Turks 
themselves,  and  there  is  a  party  of  young  men  at  Constantinople 
who  hold  that  their  country's  evils  are  all  due  to  the  iniquities 
of  its  sovereign.^  They  believe  that  under  a  wise  and  high- 
minded  monarch,  or  under  republican  institutions,  Turkey 
would  no  longer  be  the  plague-spot  of  modern  civilization.  Ac- 
cordingly, they  hope  to  see  their  country  regenerated  when  the 
present  reign  comes  to  an  end.  That  their  hopes  are  unfounded 
it  would  be  harsh  to  say.  But  the  careful  student  of  history 
has  no  faith  whatever  in  the  "  unspeakable  Turk." 
1  The  Fortnightly  Review,  Ql :  639. 


CHAPTER  III 

RUSSIA 

The  movement  for  constitutional  government  has  been  well- 
nigh  universal  throughout  Europe  during  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, but  two  nations  have  steadily  resisted  its  advance.  Neither 
Russia  nor  Turkey  has  adopted  representative  institutions  ;  in 
neither  of  these  countries  do  the  people  have  any  control  over 
national  affairs.  And  yet  neither  of  them  could  be  ignored  in 
a  study  of  political  and  constitutional  growth  in  the  nineteenth 
century,  for  each  of  them  well  illustrates  the  defects  and  the 
dangers  of  autocratic  rule.  Moreover,  the  cause  of  represen- 
tative government  has  not  lacked  champions  in  Russia.  Loud 
and  fierce  have  been  the  jjrotests  against  absolutism,  and  more 
than  one  Tsar  has  thought  seriously  of  convening  a  national 
assembly.  This  decided  step  has  not  indeed  been  taken. 
Russia  is  still  governed  without  a  Constitution,  and  probably 
will  be  for  many  years  to  come.  But  this  absolute  monarchy 
has  been  profoundly  affected  by  the  political  progress  of  other 
European  nations.  If  the  Russian  Tsars  have  ruled  as  auto- 
crats, they  have  not  been  without  liberal  instincts ;  and  if  the 
Russian  people  have  not  obtained  self-government,  they  have 
reaped  the  benefit  of  more  than  one  radical  reform.  Accord- 
ingly, the  political  history  of  Russia  since  the  French  Revolu- 
tion affords  an  interesting  study. 

But  that  stormy  period  did  not  at  once  bear  fruit  in  the  Mus- 
covite dominions.  Catherine  II.  sat  upon  the  throne  of  Russia 
in  1789,  and  much  as  she  affected  to  admire  Rousseau  and  Vol- 
taire, she  yet  detested  the  principles  which  were  at  the  root  of 
their  teachings.  The  Revolution  in  France  she  viewed  with 
horror,  and  the  last  years  of  her  reign  were  reactionary  rather 
than  progressive.  Her  son  Paul,  who  succeeded  her  in  1796, 
was  too  weak  a  character  to  change  the  policy  of  government. 

180 


PART  II  RUSSIA  181 

Bat  his  reign  was  brief.  He  was  murdered  in  1801,  and  his 
son,  Alexander  I.,  who  now  came  to  the  throne  at  the  age  of 
twenty-three,  was  in  sympathy  with  liberal  ideas.  He  came 
too  at  a  time  when  Russia  was  ready  to  begin  a  larger  career 
and  to  become  more  profoundly  influenced  by  European  civili- 
zation. Ever  since  tlie  time  of  Peter  the  Great  she  had  been 
struggling  to  win  an  extensive  sea-coast,  and  under  Catherine  II. 
this  end  had  been  attained.  Russia  had  now  "  wholly  cast 
aside  her  character  as  a  mere  inland  power  intermediate  be- 
tween Europe  and  Asia.  She  had  a  Baltic  and  an  Euxine  sea- 
board." ' 

But  with  this  new  and  important  position  among  the  Euro- 
pean nations  came  new  responsibilities,  new  opportunities,  and 
new  ideals  of  power  and  greatness.  Russia  was  drawn  into 
the  struggle  with  Napoleon,  and  played  no  inconsiderable  part 
in  the  events  that  led  up  to  Waterloo.  For  Alexander  I.  was 
a  conspicuous  figure  during  the  ISTapoleonic  wars.  His  friend- 
ship protected  Napoleon,  even  as  his  hostility  helped  to  turn 
the  scale  against  him.  And  his  appearance  at  Paris  in  1814 
and  1815  among  the  allied  sovereigns  of  Europe  had  no  little 
significance.  It  showed  that  Russia  was  now  to  hold  vital 
and  intimate  relations  with  the  great  European  powers.  It 
pointed  to  the  Tsar  as  one  of  the  potent  and  influential  mon- 
archs  of  Europe. 

But  unfortunately,  in  taking  this  position,  Alexander  failed 
to  apprehend  its  legitimate  requirements.  It  should  have  con- 
firmed him  in  liberal  opinions ;  but  in  the  end  it  made  him  a 
reactionary.  Naturally  a  friend  of  progress,  he  had  cherished 
vast  and  beneficent  schemes  of  reform  through  the  earlier  years 
of  his  reign,  and  had  taken  some  steps  toward  bringing  them 
to  a  fulfilment.  Russians  were  allowed  to  travel  freely,  and 
foreigners  were  permitted  to  enter  Russia;  European  books 
and  papers  were  admitted  into  the  country ;  contracts  of  free- 
dom between  serfs  and  their  owners  were  made  legal,  and  even 
the  emancipation  of  the  serfs  was  talked  of ;  priests,  deacons, 
gentlemen,  and  citizens  belonging  to  the  guilds  were  declared 
exempt  from  corporal  punishment;  and  in  1813  there  was 
organized  and  formally  instituted  a  Council  of  Empire  which 
had  considerable  powers,  some  of  them  legislative.     But  after 

1  Freeman's  "Historical  Geography  of  Europe,"  p.  534. 


182  SOUTHEASTERN   EUROPE  AND   RUSSIA  book  i 

making  so  promising  a  beginning,  Alexander  grew  tired  of 
reform.  The  sovereigns  of  Europe  were  alarmed  by  the  ideas 
which  had  led  to  the  excesses  of  the  French  Revolution,  and 
he  learned  to  share  their  feelings.  So  he  joined  the  Holy 
Alliance  in  1815,  dismissed  his  Liberal  minister,  Speranski, 
and,  from  being  a  wise  and  progressive  ruler,  became  sus- 
picious, conservative,  and  despotic.  To  the  end  of  his  reign 
he  encouraged  art,  industry,  and  commerce,  and  showed  an 
interest  in  education ;  but  the  cause  of  popular  government  he 
had  learned  to  regard  with  mistrust  and  aversion,  and  the 
splendid  promise  of  his  earlier  years  was  not  fulfilled.  He 
was  succeeded  in  1825  by  his  brother  Nicholas,  who,  on  com- 
ing to  the  throne,  was  obliged  to  direct  his  energies  toward 
putting  doAvn  a  formidable  revolt  among  the  soldiers.  The 
extreme  severity  with  which  he  punished  the  leaders  in  the 
revolt  was  perhaps  justifiable;  yet  from  the  beginning  to  the 
end  of  his  reign  he  showed  himself  a  typical  Romanoif  Tsar, 
headstrong,  conservative,  iron-willed,  and  despotic.  Liberal 
measures  found  in  him  a  most  uncompromising  opponent, 
though  certain  reforms  which  did  not  directly  benefit  the 
masses  obtained  his  sanction.  At  his  direction  the  laws  were 
codified  and  the  action  of  the  courts  was  made  more  rapid ; 
tribunals  of  trade  were  established,  and  increased  political  and 
social  privileges  were  given  to  merchants;  work  upon  the 
canal  that  was  to  join  the  Don  and  the  Volga  was  continued  ; 
a  law  school,  a  technological  school,  and  two  pedagogical  insti- 
tutes were  founded. 

But  foreign  affairs  interested  Nicholas  more  than  domestic 
questions.  He  made  war  upon  Persia  and  despoiled  her  of 
several  districts ;  and  despot  though  he  was,  he  took  up  the 
cause  of  Greece  and  helped  to  free  her  from  Turkey,  for  it  was 
part  of  his  policy  to  humiliate  the  latter  power,  and,  in  case 
of  its  overthrow,  to  seize  its  domains.  In  1831  he  suppressed 
an  insurrection  of  the  Poles  and  made  Poland  a  Russian  prov- 
ince ;  while  in  1847  was  begun  the  great  eastward  march  of 
Russia  into  Central  Asia  which  has  resulted  in  the  acquisition 
of  immense  tracts,  and  which  has  not  yet  been  brought  to  an 
end.  Though  Nicholas  had  played  the  part  of  liberator  by 
protecting  Greece  in  1828,  he  had  done  so  to  cripple  Turkey  ; 
to  subvert  liberty  was  more  natural  and  agreeable  to  him,  and 


PART  II  RUSSIA  183 

this  he  did  in  1849  by  helping  Austria  quell  the  threatening 
Magyar  insurrection  (p.  142).  By  this  act  he  secured  the  good- 
will of  Francis  Joseph,  and  by  a  clever  exercise  of  diplomacy 
—  an  art  in  which  he  was  somewhat  proficient  —  he  also  gained 
the  friendship  of  Prussia.  Thus  strengthened,  he  determined 
to  renew  hostilities  with  his  old  enemy,  the  Turk,  and  exact 
from  him  further  concessions.  In  1829  he  had  forced  the  Sul- 
tan to  grant  the  free  right  of  navigation  in  the  Black  Sea,  the 
Dardanelles,  and  the  Danube  ;  now  he  hoped  to  drive  him  from 
power  and  possibly  to  gain  possession  of  Constantinople. 

But  in  this  ambition  jSTicholas  Avas  destined  to  be  wholly 
thwarted.  Two  nations,  whose  hostility  he  had  not  expected 
to  arouse,  united  with  the  Turk  against  him.  France  declared 
war  upon  Russia  to  win  military  glory  (p.  41)  ;  England,  in 
order  to  maintain  the  integrity  of  the  Turkish  Empire.  With 
the  latter  power  Nicholas  had  been  on  very  friendly  terms,  but 
to  assail  Turkey  was  to  touch  the  very  quick  of  British  diplo- 
macy. So  Nicholas  found  that  he  had  raised  up  a  storm  of 
indignation  against  himself  in  this  supposedly  friendly  nation. 
Nor  was  he  at  this  time  able  to  conciliate  feeling  and  disarm 
antagonism  by  wise  action.  Though  not  yet  fifty  years  old, 
he  was  suffering  from  that  deep,  brooding  melancholy  which 
is  so  often  the  unhappy  inheritance  of  the  Romanoffs.  So 
impaired  was  his  mind  that  in  1853  an  English  physician  pre- 
dicted that  he  had  not  more  than  two  years  to  live  —  a  predic- 
tion that  was  to  receive  a  striking  fulfilment.^  Hence,  in  the 
closing  portion  of  his  life  it  was  impossible  to  have  satisfactory 
intercourse  with  him.  He  was  the  creature  of  moods  and  whims, 
and  his  own  courtiers  as  well  as  foreign  diplomats  were  dis- 
turbed by  his  perversity  and  unreasonableness.-  So  nothing 
could  keep  him  from  the  disastrous  Crimean  War,  though 
fortunately  he  was  saved  from  witnessing  its  humiliating  con- 
clusion. His  death  occurred  on  March  2, 1855,  from  brain  con- 
gestion ;  not,  as  has  frequently  been  asserted,  from  mortified 
pride  and  ambition. 

1  Count  Vitzthum's  "  St.  Petersburg  and  London,"  I.  31. 

2  These  tendencies  showed  themselves  early  in  his  reign.  At  the  time  of 
the  Greek  Revolution,  Canning  wrote  of  him:  "To  say  the  truth,  >>icho!as 
puzzles  nie  exceedingly,  and  seems  to  have  puzzled  the  Duke  of  Wellington 
and  perhaps  himself."  "  Some  Otticial  Correspondence  of  George  Canning," 
11.27. 


184  SOUTHEASTERN   EUROPE   AND   RUSSIA  book  i 

His  son  Alexander  II.,  who  succeeded  him,  was  a  liberal  and 
progressive  ruler.  With  his  uncle's  breadth  of  mind  he 
united  a  tenacity  of  purpose  and  a  practical  bent  which  Alex- 
ander I.  had  not  possessed.  But,  coming  to  the  throne  at  a 
period  of  national  humiliation,  he  could  not  give  immediate 
attention  to  measures  of  reform.  Sebastopol  was  captured  ; 
his  armies  in  the  Crimea  were  thoroughly  vanquished  by  the 
allied  forces.  He  was,  therefore,  obliged  to  make  peace  with 
England,  France,  and  Turkey  upon  such  terms  as  they  dic- 
tated ;  and  by  the  Treaty  of  Paris,  arranged  in  1856,  he  sur- 
rendered a  part  of  Bessarabia  and  the  right  to  keep  vessels  of 
war  on  the  Black  Sea.  Thus  Russia,  instead  of  profiting  by 
Nicholas's  aggressive  attitude  toward  Turkey,  had  only  reaped 
sorrow  and  loss  of  power.  But,  the  war  once  ended,  Alexander 
soon  showed  himself  a  wise  and  humane  executive.  In  1858  he 
partially  freed  the  serfs  on  the  imperial  domains  ;  and  on  March 
3,  1861,  just  as  the  American  Civil  War,  which  was  to  liberate 
four  million  negroes,  was  looming  up  before  the  world,  he 
issued  a  decree  for  the  total  emancipation  of  the  serfs  through- 
out his  dominions.  Thus  twenty-three  million  people  were  by 
this  single  act  released  from  bondage.  Some  years  were  indeed 
allowed  for  the  full  execution  of  the  decree,  and  the  immediate 
effects  of  the  emancipation  were  not  altogether  good.  It  took 
the  peasants  some  time  to  learn  how  to  use  their  freedom.  But 
forty  years  have  shown  that  this  humane  action  of  Alexander 
must  be  classed  among  the  great  and  beneficent  reforms  of  the 
century.^  In  other  directions,  also,  Alexander  showed  him- 
self a  friend  of  civilization  and  progress.  He  caused  commer- 
cial treaties  to  be  made  with  Great  Britain  and  China;  he 
promoted  the  cause  of  education ;  he  helped  on  the  construc- 
tion of  railroads  ;  and  to  the  Jews,  who  were  not  at  that  time 
the  object  of  blind  and  fanatical  hatred,  he  granted  increased 
privileges.  But  Alexander  was  not  allowed  to  play  the  role  of 
reformer  without  interruption.  In  1861  occurred  an  uprising 
in  Poland,  which  culminated  in  a  widespread  insurrection  in 
1863.     The  agitation  had,  to  some  extent,  been  occasioned  by 

iln  Wallace's  "Russia,"  Chs.  XXXI.  and  XXXII.,  there  is  a  thorough 
discussion  of  the  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  emancipation.  A  still 
fuller  one  is  to  be  found  in  Leroy-Beaulieu's  "The  Empire  of  the  Tsars 
and  the  Russians,"  Vol.  1.  Book  VII. 


PART  II  RUSSIA  185 

the  success  of  the  national  movement  in  Italy  in  1859  ;  but  the 
Poles  had  no  foreign  friend  like  Napoleon  to  fight  their  battles 
for  them,  and  they  could  make  no  stand  against  the  full  strength 
of  the  Russian  Empire.  The  insurrection  was  completely 
crushed  in  the  course  of  the  year  1864,  and  Poland  was 
entirely  denationalized.  It  lost  its  name  and  its  separate 
government,  and  became  simply  a  province  of  the  Empire. 
But  amnesty  was  granted  to  all  political  offenders  in  1867,  — 
one  of  many  proofs  that  Alexander,  though  sometimes  stern, 
was  never  cruel. ^ 

But  at  the  very  period  of  this  uprising  Russia  found  herself 
face  to  face  with  a  far  more  formidable  foe  than  Poland.  It 
was  at  this  time  that  Nihilism  began  its  strange  and  stormy 
career.  In  the  political  as  in  the  material  world  action  and 
reaction  are  equal.  France  found  this  to  be  so  in  1789;  Russia 
began  to  find  it  so  three  quarters  of  a  century  later.  In  each 
nation  a  long  era  of  despotism  produced  a  wild  and  brutal 
revolt  against  established  order ;  in  each  nation  a  destructive 
rationalism  was  the  result  of  governing  men  with  unreason. 
But  in  France  the  protest  of  reason  ended  in  a  wild  carnival  of 
folly ;  in  Russia,  though  it  shook  the  foundations  of  govern- 
ment, it  was  powerless  to  overthrow  them. 

The  first  signs  of  the  coming  trouble  Avere  apparent  in  the 
decade  after  the  emancipation  of  the  serfs.  For  when  men 
were  made  masters  of  their  persons,  it  was  argued  that  they 
ought  also  to  be  masters  of  their  own  intelligence.  The  Nihil- 
istic movement,  therefore,  was,  in  its  early  stages,  intellectual 
rather  than  political.  Its  aim  was  to  emancipate  the  masses 
from  ignorance  and  superstition ;  its  leaders  were  the  apostles 
of  rationalism,  who  broke  free  from  tradition,  hated  religion, 
and  believed  that  education  and  free  thought  would  regenerate 
the  world.  Embracing  these  ideals  with  passionate  enthusiasm, 
they  strove  to  propagate  them  through  the  whole  Russian 
Empire.  AVhatever  may  be  said  of  their  cause,  their  zeal  for 
it  was  unbounded.  They  believed  themselves  to  be  priests 
of  a  new  dispensation,  and  this  dispensation  they  preached  in 
season  and  out  of  season  with  the  ardor  of  a  religious  brother- 

1  Prince  Krapotkin  gives  testimony  to  the  contrary,  but  his  feelings 
toward  Alexander  seem  vindictive.  See  his  recently  published  Autobiog- 
raphy, jmssini. 


186  SOUTHEASTERN   EUROPE  AND   RUSSIA  book  i 

hood.  And  for  a  time  they  confined  tliemselves  to  peaceable 
methods.  They  did  not  regard  tlieir  movement  as  revolution- 
ary, and  they  did  not  seek  to  further  it  by  violence. 

But  gradually  their  attitude  underwent  a  total  change.  If 
their  efforts  were  not  revolutionary,  the  Government  at  any 
rate  considered  them  so,  and  it  strove  to  thwart  them  by  every 
possible  means.  The  Nihilists  themselves  were  imprisoned ; 
their  documents  were  seized ;  their  property  was  confiscated. 
But  these  summary  measures  only  increased  their  devotion  to 
their  creed.  After  a  few  years  they  grew  fierce,  fanatical,  and 
desperate.  They  learned  to  regard  the  Government  with  bit- 
terest hatred,  and  their  movement  assumed  a  distinctly  politi- 
cal character.  It  was  socialistic,  destructive  of  law  and  order, 
the  enemy  of  peaceable  progress  and  the  friend  of  revolution. 
But  still  the  Nihilist  refrained  from  actual  violence.  During 
the  early  seventies  he  acted  as  if  at  bay,  angry,  outraged,  and 
vindictive,  and  ready  to  go  to  martyrdom  in  defence  of  his 
beliefs.     But  he  remained  a  propagandist  and  not  an  assassin. 

But  in  1878  occurred  a  startling  event  which  changed  the 
character  of  Nihilism,  and  was  the  beginning  of  a  long  series 
of  dreadful  deeds.  On  the  24th  of  January  in  that  year.  Gen- 
eral Trepoff  was  shot  by  a  woman  named  Vera  Zassulic,  for 
ordering  a  political  prisoner  to  be  flogged.  Vera  Zassulic  was 
acquitted  by  a  jury;  none  the  less  her  action  set  the  Nihilists 
on  fire.  Inspired  by  her  example,  they  adopted  violence  as  a 
means  of  farthering  their  cause.  Unable  to  contend  with  the 
Government,  they  sought  to  terrorize  it.  Dynamite  became 
their  favorite  weapon,  and  the  Tsar  the  special  object  of  their 
murderous  efforts.^  To  them  he  was  the  symbol  of  despotism, 
the  head  of  the  infamous  system  of  government  which  they 
were  seeking  to  destroy.  Accordingly,  they  determined  to 
offer  him  as  a  sacrifice  upon  the  altar  of  Nihilism.  Yov  the 
Empire,  they  argued,  could  not  stand,  if  to  be  its  ruler  meant 
death. 

But  in  spite  of  the  hostility  of  the  Nihilists,  the  Tsar,  for  a 
time,  persisted  in  his  course  as  an  enlightened  and  progressive 
sovereign.     The  Nihilistic  movement  did,  indeed,  excite  his 

1  The  hatred  toward  Alexander  was  intensified  because  he  tried  to  set 
aside  the  verdict  by  wliich  Vera  Zassulic  had  been  acquitted.  Her  arrest 
and  imprisonment  were  ordered  shortly  after  her  trial. 


PART  II  RUSSIA  187 

indignant  condemnation.  He  could  not  help  viewing  it  with 
profound  concern,  for  it  seemed  to  him  subversive  of  order 
and  an  enemy  of  progress.  He  therefore  gave  his  sanction  to 
those  severe  measures  by  which  it  was  attempted  to  keep  the 
Nihilists  in  check.  To  him,  as  the  representative  of  ancient 
despotic  usage,  arrest  upon  suspicion,  imprisonment  without 
trial,  maddening  solitary  confinement,  and  banishment  to  Siberia 
seemed  the  natural  and  proper  means  of  dealing  with  promoters 
of  rebellion.  But  that  he  punished  vindictively  there  is  scant 
evidence.  Nor  did  he  wholly  abandon  his  plans  of  reform 
because  of  the  signs  of  revolutionary  disturbance  within  his 
Empire.  On  the  contrary,  he  tried  to  accomplish  the  very 
things  which  the  moderate  and  thoughtful  Liberals  desired. 
He  relaxed  the  censorship  of  the  press,  shortened  the  term  of 
military  service,  encouraged  immigration  and  invention,  and 
removed  restrictions  on  travel.  And  he  did  much  to  improve 
the  legal  system  of  the  Empire,  which  preceding  sovereigns 
had  labored  to  amend  with  very  imperfect  success.  The  laws 
of  the  land  had  become  so  numerous  and  contradictory  that 
they  rather  hindered  than  helped  the  administration  of  justice, 
until  Catherine  II.  attempted  to  collect  them  into  a  single 
code.  This  work,  only  partially  accomplished  in  her  reign, 
was  continued  by  Alexander  I.  and  completed  under  Nicho- 
las I.  But  further  reforms  were  urgently  needed  when  Alex- 
ander II.  came  to  the  throne,  for  some  of  the  fundamental 
principles  of  sound  jurisprudence  were  scarcely  recognized. 
But  under  this  enlightened  monarch  trial  by  jury  was  estab- 
lished ;  the  punishment  of  criminals  was  taken  from  the  police 
and  put  in  the  hands  of  a  judiciary ;  and  flogging  was  pro- 
hibited except  in  prisons,  in  disciplinary  regiments,  and  when 
authorized  by  peasant  courts.  But  it  must  be  admitted  that 
in  a  country  like  Russia  the  value  of  such  reforms  depends 
upon  the  will  of  the  Tsar.  If  he  punishes  officials  who  trans- 
gress the  statutes,  his  edicts  will  be  obeyed.  But  the  arbitrary 
and  ilomineering  instinct  is  strong  in  a  country  where  despotic 
government  has  been  the  rule  for  centuries ;  and  those  who 
exercise  authority  are  not  often  called  to  account  for  cruel  and 
tyrannical  conduct,  for  the  Tsar,  however  well  meaning,  can- 
not oversee  all  his  minions,  and  correct  their  abuses. 

But  the  persistent  agitation  of  the  Nihilists  made  Alexander 


188  SOUTHEASTERN   EUROPE   AND   RUSSIA  book  i 

pause  in  the  work  of  reform.  The  propagandists  grew  more 
and  more  dangerous  and  violent:  the  five  great  universities 
—  at  St.  Petersburg,  Moscow,  Kiev,  Dorpat,  and  Kazan  — 
showed  sympathy  with  liberal  principles.  vSo  Alexander's 
views  took  a  reactionary  tinge,  though  he  did  not,  like  his 
uncle,  Alexander  I.,  wholly  abandon  liberal  ideas.  At  the 
very  time  of  his  death  he  was  maturing  a  plan  for  conven- 
ing a  National  Assembly  which  should  have  the  right  of  delib- 
erating upon  proposed  measures,  though  not  of  voting  upon 
them.  But  during  the  latter  years  of  his  reign  Alexander 
undoubtedly  looked  with  special  interest  upon  the  more  exter- 
nal signs  of  power  and  progress  in  his  dominions.  And  he 
had  good  reason  to  pride  himself  upon  the  gains  that  had  been 
made.  Nearly  seven  thousand  miles  of  railroad  had  been 
constructed;  the  number  of  factories  had  been  enormously 
increased;  the  export  trade  had  risen  from  thirty  million 
dollars  to  more  than  ten  times  that  sum ;  the  right  to  keep 
war  vessels  on  the  Black  Sea  (p.  42)  had  been  asserted  in 
1870 ;  and  new  and  considerable  tracts  had  been  acquired  in 
Central  Asia. 

Nearer  home,  too,  Russia  gained  additional  territory  during 
Alexander's  reign  ;  for  Turkey,  her  ancient  enemy,  was  obliged 
to  cede  portions  of  her  soil  as  a  result  of  the  Russo-Turkish  War 
in  1877-78.  Into  this  war  Alexander  was  drawn  by  a  series 
of  complications  which  arose  from  the  attempt  of  the  peoples 
south  of  the  Danube  to  emancipate  themselves  from  Turkish 
tyranny.  Foremost  among  these  peoples  were  the  Servians, 
who  made  war  upon  Turkey  in  1876  and  put  a  powerful  army 
in  the  field.  But  they  were  unable  to  cope  with  the  Turkish 
Empire,  sustained  as  it  was  by  exorbitant  taxes  wrung  from 
the  subjects  of  the  Sultan  all  over  his  dominions.  In  1877 
their  cause  looked  very  dark,  and  the  Tsar  determined  to  pro- 
tect them  from  the  horrors  that  follow  a  Turkish  victory.  He 
declared  war  upon  the  Forte  on  April  24,  1877,  and  after  a 
bloody  conflict  of  nearly  a  year's  duration  he  thoroughly 
routed  the  armies  of  the  Sultan  both  in  Asia  Minor  and  in 
European  Turkey.  Peace  was  signed  at  San  Stephano  on 
March  3,  1878 ;  and  on  August  17  an  army  of  eighty  thousand 
Pussiaus  was  reviewed  almost  in  sight  of  Constantinople. 
That  the  Tsar  was  sorely  tempted  to  seize  this  long-coveted 


PART    n 


RUSSIA  189 


stronghold  and  keep  it  against  all  assaults  there  can  be  no 
doubt;  but  he  had  pledged  himself  not  to  invade  Turkey's 
capital,  and  he  was  true  to  his  word.  Constantinople  remained 
in  the  possession  of  the  "Sick  Man,"  the  armies  of  Russia 
withdrew  across  the  Danube,^  and  the  Tsar  satisfied  himself 
with  the  awards  of  the  Berlin  Congress.  By  the  decisions  of 
that  body  the  Porte  made  over  to  Russia  Ardahan,  Kars,  and 
Batum  in  Asiatic  Turkey,  as  well  as  a  district  lying  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Danube  (p.  169).  But  in  spite  of  the  numerous 
gains  that  were  made  under  Alexander,  the  Nihilists  regarded 
him  as  a  tyrant ;  and,  after  failing  in  four  efforts  against  his 
life,  they  accomplished  their  end  on  the  afternoon  of  Sunday, 
March  13,  1881.  As  he  was  returning  from  a  parade  a  bomb 
wrecked  the  sleigh  that  bore  some  of  his  escort ;  a  second  one 
mortally  wounded  the  Tsar  himself,  who  had  courageously 
stopped  his  own  sleigh  in  order  to  look  after  his  retainers. 
His  death  removed  one  of  the  best  and  ablest  sovereigns  of  the 
century. 

Alexander  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Alexander  III.,  who 
possessed  the  dominating  traits  of  the  Romanoffs.  He  was 
imperious,  stern,  and  conscientious,  though  his  conceptions  of 
duty  were  narrow.  In  1879  he  had  been  rebuked  by  his  father 
for  advocating  reforms ;  but  after  the  tragic  end  of  Alexander 
II.  he  lost  his  sympathy  with  liberal  movements.  Abandon- 
ing all  thought  of  granting  his  subjects  a  Constitution,  he  lived 
for  two  years  in  retirement  and  reigned  as  autocratically  as 
his  predecessors.  He  was  a  man  of  high  courage,  like  all  be- 
longing to  his  line,  and  it  is  hardly  to  be  believed  that  he 
shunned  publicity  through  personal  fear.  Probably  he  was 
anxious  to  preserve  his  dynasty  from  extinction  rather  than 
to  secure  his  own  personal  safety.  But  whatever  may  have 
been  his  motives,  he  did  not  allow  himself  to  be  crowned  till 
May  27,  1883,  more  than  two  years  after  his  father's  death. 

During  the  coronation  season,  with  its  festivities,  pomp,  and 
parades,  the  Tsar  would  have  been  an  easy  mark  for  the  Nihil- 
ists ;  but  they  made  no  attempt  to  take  his  life.  In  resorting 
to  assassination  they  had  overreached  themselves  and  ruined 

1  An  army  of  occupation  reniaim  rl  nine  inmiths  in  tlie  newly  organized 
province  of  Eastern  Rumelia  to  carry  out  tlie  provisions  of  the  Berlin  Cou- 
j^ress. 


190  SOUTHEASTERN   EUROPE  AND   RUSSIA  book  i 

their  cause  in  the  eyes  of  the  civilized  world.  They  therefore 
decided  to  abandon  dynamite  and  to  win  converts  by  peace- 
able means.  But  though  the  terrorism  was  thus  brought  to 
an  end,  the  Tsar  adhered  to  his  repressive  policy.  The  Nihil- 
ists were  hunted  out,  condemned,  and  imprisoned  because  of 
their  opinions;  a  rigid  censorship  over  all  publications  was 
maintained;  and  political  offenders  as  well  as  criminals  were 
exiled  to  Siberia,  and  there  treated  with  great  hardship.  It 
soon  became  plain  that  the  reign  of  Alexander  III.  would  not 
be  a  period  of  reforms. 

But  the  reign  was  not  a  long  one.  On  reaching  middle  life, 
Alexander  showed  the  same  signs  of  mental  oppression  to 
which  other  members  of  his  line  had  been  a  prey,  and  he  was 
also  attacked  by  a  wasting  disease.  The  weight  of  empire 
was  too  heavy  for  him.  On  November  1,  1894,  he  died,  at  the 
age  of  forty-nine,  and  his  son  succeeded  to  the  throne  as 
Nicholas  II. 

Born  on  May  18,  1868,  Nicholas  was  but  twenty-six  when 
called  to  reign  over  the  mightiest  nation  in  the  world,  and  for 
a  time  he  maintained  a  discreet  silence  and  did  not  enunciate 
his  policy.^  Indeed,  he  showed  himself  an  unusually  self-con- 
tained and  well-balanced  character.  Accordingly,  the  traditions 
of  Russian  statecraft  were  not  immediately  changed.  The 
vast  armies  were  maintained  and  improved;  the  navy  was 
increased ;  the  steady  flow  of  exiles  into  Siberia  was  not 
diminished;  and  Russian  diplomacy  was  still  marked  by  in- 
trigue, aggressiveness,  and  territorial  greed.  In  China,  as  is  else- 
where related  (p.  324),  Russia  was  particularly  encroaching 
and  caused  irritation  among  the  other  great  powers  of  Europe 
by  the  large  concessions  she  obtained  from  the  Chinese  Gov- 
ernment. All  the  more  important  were  these  concessions 
because  the  Trans-Siberian  railway  was  slowly  and  steadily 
approaching  completion,  and  was  destined  to  make  Russia's 
power  on  the  Pacific  extremely  formidable.  This  vast  enter- 
prise was  begun  in  1891  and  was  carried  forward  in  three  great 
sections.  The  work  was  not  hurried,  but  was  done  in  an  ex- 
ceedingly thorough  manner,  so  that  the  railroad  itself,  the 
bridges  over  the  rivers,  and   the  official  buildings  along  the 

1  Such  brief  announcements  as  he  made  were  in  favor  of  maintaining  the 
traditional  autocratic  rule. 


PART    II 


KUSSIA  191 


route  compare  favorably  with  similar  constructions  in  the  most 
advanced  and  highly  civilized  countries.^ 

As  time  passed,  however,  the  Tsar  began  to  show  marked 
independence  of  mind  and  character.  He  was  extremely  judi- 
cious in  dealing  with  other  powers,  as  he  avoided  entangling 
alliances  and  at  the  same  time  gave  no  just  cause  for  offence ; 
and  in  the  administration  of  his  own  Empire  he  refused  to  be 
fettered  by  settled  usage  and  custom.  Although  he  preserved 
the  efficiency  of  his  vast  armaments,  he  became  impressed  with 
the  cruel  and  hideous  nature  of  war,  and  he  proposed  to  the 
great  powers  of  the  world  a  conference  in  the  interests  of 
peace.  That  the  strong  military  nations  would  at  once  dimin- 
ish their  armies  and  navies,  he  hardly  expected ;  but  he  sug- 
gested that  all  of  them  should  cease  to  add  to  their  armaments, 
and  he  declared  himself  ready  to  carry  out  this  policy  in  Rus- 
sia. His  motives  were  much  impugned  and  his  scheme  was 
pronounced  impracticable;  but  none  the  less  the  Conference 
met  at  The  Hague  on  May  18,  1899,  and  was  organized  under 
the  presidency  of  M.  de  Staal,  the  Russian  ambassador  to  Eng- 
land. All  the  greater  powers  of  Europe  and  nearly  all  the 
lesser  ones  were  represented  at  the  Conference ;  and  the  United 
States  and  four  Asiatic  countries,  China,  Japan,  Persia,  and 
Siam,  also  sent  delegates.  For  more  than  two  months  the 
Conference  continued  its  sessions,  and  though  it  did  not  accom- 
plish exactly  what  the  Tsar  had  planned,  its  deliberations  were 
by  no  means  fruitless.  For  before  its  members  dispersed, 
they  prepared  eight  conventions,  which  were  agreed  to  by  a 
majority  of  the  powers  represented.  Some  of  these  conven- 
tions were  designed  to  mitigate  the  horrors  and  barbarities  of 
warfare,  the  use  of  balloons  to  drop  explosives  from  the  sky, 
of  asphyxiation  shells  and  of  expanding  bullets  being  forbidden ; 
but  the  most  important  of  them  was  the  fourth,  which  pro- 
vided for  the  establishment  of  a  permanent  court  of  arbitration 
with  a  bureau  at  The  Hague,  and  made  it  the  duty  of  all  gov- 
ernments to  encourage  the  submission  of  disputes  to  the  court. 
Thus  the  Tsar  Nicholas  has  made  the  whole  civilized  world 
his  debtor;  for  the  conventions  of  the  Conference  Avill  work 

1  So  travellers,  familiar  with  the  road,  have  stated;  but  recent  reports 
throw  doubt  upon  the  correctness  of  their  imiiressions.  It  is  uow  said  that 
xnucb  of  the  road  must  be  built  over  again. 


102  SOUTHEASTERN   EUROPE  AND   RUSSIA  book  i 

powerfully  for  peace  and  will  help  to  rob  war  of  some  of  its 
native  savagery. 

Desiring  to  see  progress  in  all  parts  of  his  dominions, 
Nicholas  gave  much  thought  and  attention  to  the  wretched 
condition  of  Siberia  under  the  exile  system.  He  saw  that  con- 
victs were  not  the  best  persons  to  develop  a  country  and  spread 
civilization ;  and  he  therefore  determined  to  people  Siberia 
with  settlers  who  would  make  the  most  of  its  great  fertility, 
and  all  its  varied  resources.  When  this  plan  is  carried  out, 
the  custom  of  making  the  country  the  home  of  criminals  will 
die  of  itself,  just  as  Great  Britain  ceased  to  send  convicts  to 
Australia  after  the  country  was  well  settled  with  orderly  and 
law-abiding  inhabitants. 

As  the  Tsar  gave  many  evidences  of  an  enlightened  and 
liberal  mind,  it  was  unfortunate  that  his  treatment  of  the 
Finns  was  oppressive  and  unjust.  The  Grand  Duchy  of  Fin- 
land was  ceded  by  Sweden  to  Russia  in  1809,  and  received  a 
guarantee  from  Alexander  I.  that  its  religion  and  its  funda- 
mental laws  shouM  not  be  changed.  This  guarantee  was 
respected  by  the  succeeding  Tsars,  each  of  whom  solemnly 
swore  to  uphold  the  Constitution  and  the  liberties  of  Finland. 
Under  this  Constitution,  which  dates  from  the  year  1792,  Fin- 
land had  its  own  Parliament,  consisting  of  four  estates,  the 
nobles,  the  clergy,  the  burghers,  and  the  peasants  ;  its  own 
money  and  system  of  custom-houses;  and  the  right  to  manage 
its  own  affairs.  But  by  a  manifesto  issued  on  February  15, 
1899,  Nicholas  set  this  Constitution  aside.  For  in  this  mani- 
festo he  reserved  the  right  to  decide  what  laws  should  be  con- 
sidered to  affect  the  whole  Empire  as  well  as  Finland  proper. 
Accordingly,  as  almost  any  law  could  be  held  to  have  some 
relation  to  the  Empire  in  general,  the  Parliament  of  Finland 
was  reduced  to  a  mere  provincial  assembly,  and  deprived  of 
the  power  to  treat  any  other  than  local  questions. 

Even  before  the  manifesto  of  February  15  the  Russian 
Government  attempted  to  increase  the  burden  of  military 
service  in  Finland,  and  to  that  end  it  brought  a  Military  Re- 
form Bill  before  the  Finnish  Diet.  Such  a  bill  could  not 
have  become  a  law  against  the  wishes  of  tlie  peo})le  of  Finland 
while  the  Constitution  was  in  force ;  but  after  the  Constitution 
was  made  invalid  by  the  act   of   Nicholas,  the  people  werq 


PART  n  RUSSIA  193 

powerless  to  protect  themselves  against  this  bill  or  against 
any  other  tyrannical  act  of  the  Russian  Government.  But 
they  continued  loyal  and  still  regarded  the  Tsar  as  their 
friend,  believing  that,  in  taking  away  their  liberties,  he  had 
been  led  astray  by  evil  counsellors. 

Russia  has  a  European  area  of  2,095,504  square  miles,  and  a 
total  area  of  8,644,100  square  miles.  The  population  of 
European  Russia  is  about  100,000,000 ;  and  that  of  the  whole 
empire  about  130,000,000.  Although  the  Tsar  has  absolute 
power,  the  administration  of  affairs  is  intrusted  to  four  chief 
Councils.  The  Council  of  State  consists  of  a  president  and 
an  unlimited  number  of  members  appointed  by  the  Tsar.  It 
is  divided  into  three  departments  of  Legislation,  Civil  and 
Church  Administration,  and  Finance ;  and  its  chief  function  is 
to  examine  into  new  laws  that  are  proposed  by  the  ministers, 
and  to  discuss  the  budget.  The  Ruling  Senate  has  partly  a 
deliberative  and  partly  an  executive  character.  It  is  divided 
into  nine  departments  or  sections,  which  meet  in  St.  Peters- 
burg, and  each  of  which  is  presided  over  by  a  lawyer.  No 
law  can  be  valid  without  its  sanction ;  it  is  also  the  High 
Court  of  Justice  for  the  Empire.  The  Holy  Synod  is  com- 
posed of  metropolitans,  archbishops,  and  bishops,  and  takes 
charge  of  religious  affairs.  The  Committee  of  Ministers  has 
to  a  large  extent  the  duties  and  functions  of  a  Cabinet. 

For  purposes  of  local  administration  the  country  is  divided 
into  107,493  communes,  which  are  managed  by  the  peasants 
themselves  by  means  of  the  Mir,  or  communal  assembly.  A 
branch  of  the  Greek  Church  is  established  in  Russia  as  the 
State  Church.  It  has  its  own  synod  and  recognizes  the  Tsar 
as  its  supreme  head. 

In  educational  matters  Russia  is  one  of  the  most  backward 
countries  in  Europe,  its  percentage  of  illiteracy  being  very 
large.  Scarcely  any  provision  is  made  for  primary  education. 
There  are  good  secondai'y  schools  for  boys  and  for  girls,  but 
their  number  is  utterly  inadequate  to  the  needs  of  the  country ; 
and  very  much  the  same  is  to  be  said  of  the  colleges  and 
universities. 


Part  III 

THE  TEUTONIC  NATIONS 

GERMANY  SWEDEN  and 

HOLLAND  NORWAY 

DENMARK  SWITZERLAND 


CHAPTER  I 

GERMANY 

Before  Europe  became  civilized,  the  Gallic  and  the  Ger- 
manic peoples  occupied  adjoining  tracts  on  either  side  of  the 
Rhine.  Gradually  there  came  to  each  enlightenment,  political 
growth,  and  national  development.  But  the  development  was 
for  each  distinctive  and  peculiar.  The  Gallic  Celts  retained 
their  own  individual  type  of  civilization  and  political  life,  and 
the  Germans  retained  theirs.  As  time  passed  most  of  the 
Gallic  peoples  were  welded  into  the  French  nation,  while  the 
Germanic  peoples  refused  to  give  up  their  separate  existence. 
They  retained  that  independence  which  Tacitus  mentions  as 
one  of  their  striking  characteristics,  and  which  neither  the 
force  of  circumstances  nor  the  strength  of  individual  genius 
was  ever  able  to  overcome.  The  Holy  Roman  Empire  was  an 
empire  only  in  name.  Its  head  did  not  have  a  truly  imperial 
power.  Even  so  potent  a  monarch  as  Charles  V.  could  not 
bring  the  stubborn  German  princes  under  an  absolute  sway. 
For  even  when  he  considered  his  authority  to  be  complete  and 
unresisted,  that  profound  and  subtle  prince,  Maurice  of  Saxony, 
undermined  his  power  and  drove  him,  a  hasty  fugitive,  out  of 
his  own  dominions. 

With  the  intellectual  and  moral  growth  of  Europe  the  rug- 
gedness  of  the  German  temper  showed  itself  more  strongly 
than  ever.  The  Reformation  came.  Luther  made  northern 
Germany  break  away  from  the  Catholic  Church,  and  the  task 
of  forming  the  German  states  into  one  undivided  nation 
became  increasingly  difficult.  To  the  separative  influence 
of  native  independence  was  now  added  that  of  religious  dis- 
sension. And  in  process  of  time  came  educational  develop- 
ment and  literary  activity,  which  resulted  in  making  the 
Germans    a    deep-thinking   people.      But   with    thought   and 

197 


198  THE   TEUTONIC   NATIONS  book  i 

education  came  liberal  ideas,  dislike  of  autocratic  rule,  and 
emancipation  from  mediaeval  superstition  and  from  conven- 
tional opinions.  Hence  the  Holy  Roman  Empire  was  seen 
to  have  but  the  semblance  of  authority,  and  it  gradually  lost 
its  power.  To  it  could  never  belong  the  glory  of  making  a 
united  Germany. 

Yet  the  hearts  of  the  Germans  longed  increasingly  for  a 
great,  free,  and  united  fatherland.  This  longing  was  rendered 
so  intense  and  active  by  the  French  Revolution  that  Leopold 
II.,  head  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire  from  1790  to  1792,  and 
Frederick  William  IV.,  King  of  Prussia,  decided  to  crush  such 
aspirations  by  helping  Louis  XVI.  suppress  his  rebellious  sub- 
jects. But  in  this  effort  they  did  not  succeed.  The  French 
people  triumphed  over  their  King,  and  under  Napoleon  Bona- 
parte they  overpowered  Austria  and  Prussia.  More  than  this, 
they  made  Germany  more  divided  than  ever.  The  chief  cen- 
tral and  southern  states  were  formed  into  the  Confederation  of 
the  Rhine,  Avhich  espoused  Napoleon's  cause  and  furnished  him 
men  to  win  his  victories. 

But  when  Napoleon  finally  abdicated,  Germany  lapsed  back 
into  its  old  condition.  The  Holy  Roman  Empire,  which  was 
brought  to  an  end  in  1804,  was  not  indeed  revived.  But  noth- 
ing was  done  by  the  Congress  of  Vienna  to  unify  the  various 
German  states.  Every  petty  princeling  was  reestablished  in 
power,  and  was  expected  to  rule  as  an  autocrat.  Constitutions 
were  not  approved  of.  The  people  were  to  have  no  rights 
whatever.  Metternich,  the  Austrian  statesman,  exercised  a 
paramount  influence  in  the  Congress,  and  made  it  take  a 
resolute  stand  against  popular  government. 

Thus  the  prospects  of  Germany  were  deeply  discoui-aging 
after  the  Congress  had  ended  its  labors.  Both  liberty  and 
unity  seemed  far  away.  The  demand  for  Constitutions  was 
heard  all  over  the  land ;  but  how  could  they  be  wrested  from 
reluctant  and  despotic  rulers  ?  Austria  and  Prussia,  tire  two 
foremost  states  in  Germany,  were  completely  under  Metter- 
nich's  influence  and  were  swayed  by  narrow-minded  sovereigns. 
Democracy  was  odious  to  Francis  I.  of  Austria;  Frederick 
William  III.  of  Prussia  was  not  in  sympathy  with  modern 
ideas.  Of  the  remaining  states  no  one  was  powerful  enough 
to  assume  the  leadership  of  Germany  and  to  become  the  cham- 


PART    III 


GERMANY  199 


pion  of  the  people's  rights.  For  Austria  and  Prussia  stood 
ready,  at  Metteniich's  bidding,  to  suppress  such  a  movement 
by  armed  force. 

National  unity  seemed  more  difficult  of  attainment  than 
political  freedom.  The  Confederation  of  the  Khine  was  suc- 
ceeded in  1815  by  the  German  Confederation,  which  lasted  till 
1866,  but  this  union  of  the  states  was  never  able  to  grow  into 
a  nation.  Federations  lack  permanence.  History  shows  that 
they  are  powerless  to  prevent  disintegration.  Germany  was 
not  ready  to  repeat  America's  experiment.  Her  separate  states 
were  not  on  an  equality.  They  could  not  unite  by  voluntary 
agreement.  The  smaller  ones  looked  for  some  powerful  one 
to  lead  them.  But  the  two  most  powerful  ones,  Austria  and 
Prussia,  could  never  lead  while  they  remained  walled  in  by 
absolutism.  Each  was,  indeed,  ambitious  for  leadership.  Each 
attracted  attention  by  its  superior  power  and  prestige.  In  the 
rivalry  of  the  two  is  the  key  to  German  history  for  half  a 
century.  Yet  how  that  rivalry  would  end,  to  what  amazing 
developments  it  would  lead,  no  one  could  foresee  in  the  days 
of  Metternich's  supremacy. 

In  spite  of  the  obstacles  to  political  progress,  the  movement 
for  constitutional  rights  was  not  long  delayed.  Constitutions 
had  indeed  been  provided  for  by  the  Articles  of  the  German 
Confederation,  and  most  of  the  German  princes  had  promised 
liberal  governments  during  the  stormy  times  of  the  struggle 
with  Napoleon.  But  the  provisions  of  the  Confederation 
proved  to  be  a  dead  letter,  for  no  one  was  responsible  for 
carrying  them  out;  and  most  of  the  princes  failed  to  keep 
faith  with  them.  But  some  there  were  who  kept  the  promises 
they  had  made,  and  by  them  the  cause  of  liberal  government 
received  its  first  onward  movement.  In  North  Germany  only 
the  Grand  Duke  of  Saxe-Weimar  was  sufficiently  progressive  to 
fall  in  with  the  popular  desires.  But  in  South  Germany  Con- 
stitutions were  granted  in  Bavaria,  Wlirtemberg,  Hesse-Darm- 
stadt ;  and  the  rulers  of  these  states  led  the  way  in  this,  for 
they  wished  to  weaken  the  nebility  by  freeing  the  people. 

These  changes  were  all  effected  before  the  end  of  1820. 
Meanwhile  measures  had  been  taken  to  prevent  further  innova- 
tions of  a  similar  character.  In  March,  1819,  Kotzebue,  the 
author,  was  stabbed  to  death  for  undertaking  to  play  the  part 


200  THE   TEUTONIC    NATIONS  book  i 


of  spy  upon  German  liberty  as  the  agent  of  the  Russian  Em- 
peror. The  deed,  horrible  as  it  was,  had  no  special  signifi- 
cance. It  was  the  act  of  a  fanatic,  not  the  result  of  a  conspiracy. 
Yet  it  was  viewed  with  deep  concern  by  the  reactionary  Ger- 
man rulers.  It  destroyed  all  lingering  sympathy  with  consti- 
tutionalism in  the  mind  of  Frederick  AVilliam  III.  And  it 
helped  to  bring  about  the  Carlsbad  Congress.  This  body,  to 
which  Austria  and  Prussia  and  several  other  states  sent  repre- 
sentatives, assembled  in  August,  1819,  and  adopted  resolutions 
subversive  of  free  speech  and  liberal  tendencies. 

Constitutionalism,  therefore,  made  but  little  additional 
progress  for  a  number  of  years.  ]\[etternich's  influence  was 
potent  against  it.  But  a  movement  was  projected  by  Prussia 
in  1818  which  helped  on  the  cause  of  national  unity.  In  that 
year  the  ZoUverein,  or  Customs-union,  was  first  planned. 
After  a  few  years  it  was  put  into  operation,  and  was  gradually 
joined  by  nearly  all  the  states  of  Germany  excepting  Austria. 
The  benefits  it  brought  were  very  great.  The  duties  on  im- 
ported goods  were  made  uniform  throughout  Germany.  Do- 
mestic manufactures  were  encouraged.  Trade  prospered ;  and 
the  receipts  of  the  custom-house  were  very  greatly  increased. 
Moreover,  by  causing  the  German  states  to  work  together  in 
securing  a  commercial  prosperity,  it  helped  the  national  idea, 
for  the  advantages  of  common  arms,  common  laws,  and  com- 
mon government  were  made  apparent.  Nor  did  Prussia  fail  to 
reap  special  advantages  from  the  union  which  she  had  founded. 
Its  success  redounded  to  her  credit  and  gave  her  additional 
prominence  among  the  states  of  Germany. 

With  the  outbreak  of  the  revolution  in  France  in  1830,  the 
hopes  of  the  Constitutionalists  were  revived,  nor  were  they 
vainly  excited.  Insurrection  broke  out  in  Electoral  Hesse  and 
Saxony,    and   Constitutions  were   granted   in   those  states  in 

1831.  A  new  Constitution  was  proclaimed  in  Brunswick  in 

1832,  and  one  was  adopted  in  Hanover  in  1833,  partly  as  the 
result  of  popular  agitation  and  disturbance.  To  these  changes 
the  Diet  of  the  German  Confederation  was  opposed ;  but  it 
was  powerless  to  prevent  or  annul  them.  But  the  cause  of 
the  reactionists  was  helped  by  a  foolish  demonstration  in 
Bavaria  in  1832,  accompanied  with  fervid  oratory  and  out- 
cries  against   autocratic   government;    and   by    an    impotent 


PART    III 


GERMANY  201 


attack  upon  the  police  at  Frankfort  in  1833.  These  attempts, 
like  the  murder  of  Kotzebue,  only  called  forth  vigorous 
measures  of  repression  from  the  opponents  of  liberal  ideas. 
Austria,  at  Metternich's  instigation,  made  a  new  assault  on 
popular  rights.  Prussia  and  the  Diet  of  the  Confederation 
joined  with  her  in  the  effort.  The  censorship  of  the  press  was 
made  more  rigid,  and  other  reactionary  steps  were  taken. 
Such  coercion  only  deepened  the  desire  for  political  emancipa- 
tion and  prepared  the  way  for  serious  outbreaks.  Yet  for  a 
time  the  agitations  of  the  reformers  seemed  to  subside.  The 
reactionary  princes  grew  more  confident.  In  1837  Ernest 
Augustus,  uncle  of  Queen  Victoria,  who  succeeded  to  the 
throne  of  Hanover,  withdrew  the  Constitution  that  had  so 
recently  been  granted. 

Such  arbitrary  acts  only  hastened  the  downfall  of  absolu- 
tism. But  the  situation  did  not  materially  change  in  Germany 
for  a  number  of  years.  The  accession  of  new  sovereigns  in 
Austria  and  Prussia  was  attended  with  no  political  results. 
In  1835  Francis  II.  of  Austria  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Ferdi- 
nand I.,  who  was  too  weak  to  alter  the  policy  of  the  Govern- 
ment. In  1840  the  death  of  the  Prussian  King  Frederick 
William  III.  caused  his  son,  Frederick  William  IV.,  to  receive 
the  crown.  From  this  latter  ruler  progressive  measures  were 
hoped  for ;  for  he  was  not  a  degenerate,  like  his  fellow-ruler 
on  the  Austrian  throne.  Yet  his  undoubted  intellectual  gifts 
proved  of  little  benefit  to  his  country.  He  had  no  grasp  upon 
practical  affairs.  Visionary  and  unstable,  he  drew  his  inspira- 
tion from  the  past  and  failed  to  adopt  a  consistent  policy  of 
conduct.  In  1847  he  expressed  himself  unreservedly  against 
a  Constitution. 

But  a  crisis  soon  came,  which  caused  him  temporarily  to 
alter  his  views.  In  1848  occurred  the  revolution  in  France 
which  drove  Louis  Philippe  from  his  throne.  Germany  caught 
the  revolutionary  fever.  Many  of  its  rulers  grew  alarmed  at 
the  signs  of  popular  agitation,  and  conceded  what  their  sub- 
jects demanded.  New  and  more  liberal  Constitutions  were 
granted  in  Saxony  and  Wlirtemberg.  In  Bavaria  parliamen- 
tary government  and  freedom  of  the  press  were  wrested  from 
the  dissolute  and  timorous  King.  And  in  states  of  less  im- 
portance than  these  similar  concessions  were  obtained.     Yet 


202  THE    TEUTONIC    NATIONS  book  i 

it  was  not  in  these  minor  principalities  that  the  revolutionary 
movement  showed,  the  greatest  strength  and  assumed  the 
greatest  significance.  It  was  felt  in  the  two  leading  states, 
Austria  and  Prussia,  and  it  brought  about  changes  in  them 
of  no  little  importance.  In  Prussia  the  agitation  immediately 
assumed  an  alarming  character.  A  bloody  conflict  took  place 
in  the  streets  of  Berlin  between  the  citizens  and  the  populace. 
The  startled  King  abandoned  his  mediaeval  views  about  the 
absolute  rights  of  sovereigns  and  put  himself  at  the  head  of 
the  popular  movement.  On  March  21  he  issued  a  proclamation 
declaring  his  willingness  to  make  liberal  concessions,  and  inti- 
mating his  desire  to  unite  all  the  German  powers  into  one 
imperial  state.  So  to  some,  who  failed  to  measure  his  weak 
and  vacillating  character,  the  hour  for  effecting  German  liberty 
and  the  leader  who  was  destined  to  accomplish  it  seemed  to 
have  arrived.  The  Diet  of  the  Germanic  Confederation  had 
declared  for  a  representative  National  Assembly.  This  Assem- 
bly met  at  Frankfort  on  May  18,  1848.  It  spent  much  time 
in  fruitless  deliberations,  but  finally,  on  March  28,  1849,  it 
offered  the  title  of  Emperor  to  Frederick  William. 

But  Frederick  William  was  not  the  man  to  found  an  empire, 
and  this  he  apparently  realized.  He  declined  the  offer  of  the 
Assembly.  His  experience  in  his  own  capital  had  not  been 
happy  and  did  not  encourage  him  to  take  upon  himself  new 
and  larger  responsibilities.  A  Constitutional  Convention  had 
met  in  Berlin  in  May,  1848 ;  but  it  was  largely  composed  of 
demagogues,  and  its  proceedings  were  nugatory  and  impracti- 
cal. It  failed  to  formulate  a  satisfactory  Constitution.  The 
King  accordingly  abandoned  his  practical  policy.  Instead  of 
falling  in  with  the  popular  movement,  he  determined  to 
suppress  it  by  force.  Berlin  was  filled  with  troops  ;  the  Con- 
stitutional Assembly  was  dissolved;  and  a  new  and  highly 
conservative  Constitution  was  announced.  Thus  ended  the 
revolution  in  Prussia.  Yet,  though  defeated,  it  had  deepened 
the  desire  for  political  emancipation  and  brought  the  day  of 
absolutism  nearer  to  its  end.  In  Austria  the  movement  had 
a  similar  course  and  met  with  a  like  reverse.  In  Saxony,  the 
Palatinate,  and  Baden  it  assumed  formidable  proportions  and 
was  at  first  successful.  But  Prussia  sent  lier  troops  into  these 
states  to  crush  sedition.     The  insurgents  were   overpow^ered, 


PART  III  GERMANY  203 

and  some  of  their  leaders  were  shot.  Gottfried  Kinkel,  the 
ppet  and  scholar,  who  had  left  his  chair  at  the  University  of 
Bonn  to  fight  for  freedom,  was  condemned  to  imprisonment 
with  hard  labor.  After  a  year  of  extreme  suffering  he  was 
rescued  by  the  daring  exertions  of  his  friend  Carl  Schurz.  He 
made  his  way  to  England  and  there  remained  until  despotic 
rule  in  Germany  gave  place  to  free  institutions. 

The  insurrections  were  crushed.  The  rivalry  between  Austria 
and  Prussia  still  went  on.  Each  of  these  states  was  jealous 
of  the  other.  Each  was  desirous  of  gaining  power  and  prestige 
at  the  expense  of  the  other.  At  times  all  Germany  seemed 
to  divide  into  two  hostile  camps,  ready  to  assert  the  claims 
of  Austrian  or  Prussian  supremacy.  As  years  passed  the 
despotisms  that  afHicted  Germany  were  softened.  Liberal  ideas 
marched  on  with  irresistible  force.  German  scholarship  became 
more  and  more  famous.  German  literature  commanded  in- 
creasing attention  and  respect  in  all  the  centres  of  civilization. 
Goethe  died  in  1832.  Very  soon  his  name  was  on  the  lips  of 
all  lovers  of  literature.  Naturally  Germans  grcAV  proud  of 
their  achievements ;  their  patriotism  and  their  aspirations  for 
a  united  fatherland  became  more  deep  and  fervent.  But  still 
there  was  no  German  nation.  Neither  diplomacy,  force,  nor 
voluntary  union  seemed  able  to  make  an  empire  out  of  the 
dissevered  German  states. 

But  one  man  in  Germany  was  forming  large  schemes,  which 
were  destined  to  accomplish  even  more  perhaps  than  he  him- 
self expected  from  them.  Otto  von  Bismarck,  born  in  Prussian 
Saxony  in  1815,  entered  public  life  in  1847,  and  soon  attracted 
attention  by  his  extraordinary  powers.  He  served  first  in  the 
Prussian  House  of  Burgesses ;  then  he  represented  Prussia  in 
the  Diet  of  the  German  Confederation,  where  he  exerted  a  wide 
influence.  Austria  found  him  a  serious  obstacle  to  her  plans 
for  her  own  aggrandizement.  In  1859  his  diplomatic  career 
began.  He  was  sent  by  the  King  of  Prussia  to  St.  Petersburg 
and  afterward  to  Paris ;  and  at  both  courts  he  showed  great 
skill  in  the  conduct  of  affairs  and  rare  knowledge  of  men.  His 
successful  career  commended  him  to  his  country,  but  the 
breadth  and  boldness  of  his  conceptions  were  not  yet  appre- 
ciated. For  while  he  was  adroitly  performing  his  various 
tasks,    he    was   planning   for   Prussia   a   great   and    brilliant 


204  THE   TEUTONIC    NATIONS  book  i 

destiny.  He  aimed  to  make  her  the  dominant  power  in  Ger- 
many, and  to  accomplish  this  he  saw  but  one  method  of  pro- 
cedure, and  that  was  force.  The  German  states  would  render 
homage  to  but  one  thing,  militaiy  greatness.  Only  the  bayonet 
could  establish  Prussia's  ascendency.  So  Bismarck  aimed  to 
make  her  armies  the  best  in  Europe. 

The  opportunity  of  accomplishing  this  purpose  was  not 
long  in  coming.  On  January  2, 1861,  William  I.  had  succeeded 
his  brother,  Frederick  William  IV.,  on  the  Prussian  throne. 
In  character  he  was  the  opposite  of  his  predecessor.  He  was 
not  a  visionary,  but  a  man  of  affairs.  His  strength  did  not 
lie  in  intellectual  accomplishments,  but  in  a  sturdy  sense  and 
knowledge  of  men.  He  knew  how  to  select  his  advisers  —  an 
invaluable  instinct  in  a  sovereign  —  and  this  knowledge  he  mani- 
fested conspicuously  by  making  Bismarck  his  Prime  Minister. 
This  responsible  post  Bismarck  assumed  in  September,  1862. 
Almost  immediately  he  showed  a  masterful  hand.  The  wishes 
of  the  Chamber  of  Representatives  he  regarded  as  of  no  conse- 
quence. On  one  thing  only  he  was  bent.  He  was  determined 
to  use  the  national  revenues  to  create  an  efficient  army,  and 
this  he  did  in  spite  of  all  opposition.  The  representatives 
scolded,  censured,  and  threatened  him,  and  pronounced  his  acts 
unconstitutional ;  but  they  spoke  to  deaf  ears.  Bismarck  was 
satisfied  that  his  course  of  action  would  make  Prussia  great, 
and  to  his  mind  that  was  enough  to  justify  it.  Practically  he 
carried  on  the  government  for  several  years  without  legisla- 
tive assistance.  This  high-handed  conduct  was  in  utter  de- 
fiance of  the  Constitution  ;  but  the  course  of  events  gave  it  a 
partial  justification.  On  November  15,  1863,  Frederick  VII., 
King  of  Denmark,  died,  and  was  succeeded  by  Christian  IX.  of 
a  different  line.  The  right  of  the  new  King  to  the  Danish 
throne  was  unquestioned;  whether  he  was  also  the  lawful  ruler 
of  Schleswig  and  Holstein  was  not  so  certain.  For  these 
duchies,  on  the  southern  border  of  Denmark,  had  for  some 
time  resisted  Danish  rule,  claiming  that  they  were  not  gov- 
erned by  the  same  law  of  succession  as  the  other  Danish  prov- 
inces. This  claim  had  led  to  war  with  Denmark  in  1848 
which  had  lasted  till  1850  and  into  which  some  of  the  German 
states  were  drawn.  The  difficulty  was  then  settled  in  favor  of 
Denmark.     But  on  the  accession  of  Christian  IX.  the  trouble 


PART  III  GERMANY  205 

broke  out  afresh.  It  is  not  easy  to  decide  whether  the  claim 
of  Schleswig-Holstein  was  thorouglily  well  founded;  but  at 
any  rate  the  Germans  quite  generally  believed  it  to  be,  and 
were  full  of  sympathy  for  the  German  inhabitants  of  these 
duchies.  They  wished  to  protect  them  from  Danish  aggres- 
sion by  armed  interference ;  and  this  feeling  was  shared  by 
Bismarck.  That  he  cared  much  for  the  justice  of  the  case 
may  be  doubted.  He  simply  saw  in  the  difficulty  an  oppor- 
tunity for  Prussia,  and  he  made  the  most  of  it.  He  made 
common  cause  with  Austria  in  defending  the  duchies  against 
the  Danes,  who  were  speedily  overpowered  by  the  combined 
Austrian  and  Prussian  armies.  The  duchies  were  ceded  to 
the  allies  in  1864 ;  Austria  thereupon  took  possession  of  Hol- 
stein  and  Prussia  of  Schleswig.  Thus  Bismarck's  despotic 
policy  was  beginning  to  bear  fruit. 

But  the  far-seeing  Prime  Minister  was  ambitious  for  larger 
triumphs.  In  1866  he  picked  a  quarrel  with  Austria  over 
these  same  duchies,  and  brought  on  the  Austro-Prussian  War. 
Not  content  with  the  acquisition  of  Schleswig,  Prussia  endeav- 
ored to  grasp  Holstein  too.  Austria  naturally  resisted  this 
aggression,  and  Prussia  declared  war  upon  her  in  June,  1866. 
The  move  seemed  a  bold  one,  for  Austria  was  one  of  the 
most  formidable  military  powers  in  Europe.  Her  population 
(including  that  of  Hungary)  greatly  exceeded  that  of  Prussia: 
her  resources  were  in  every  way  supposed  to  be  greater.  Yet 
Bismarck  went  into  the  struggle  with  absolute  confidence,  and 
the  sequel  showed  that  his  confidence  was  justified.  He  knew 
what  few  beside  himself  did  know  —  that  the  Prussian  army 
was  the  best  drilled  and  the  best  disciplined  in  Europe.  He 
placed  great  hopes,  moreover,  in  the  military  genius  of  von 
Moltke,  the  distinguished  Prussian  general,  and  in  the  effec- 
tiveness of  the  breech-loading  needle-gun.  Nor  did  he  expect 
that  Prussia  would  fight  her  battles  all  alone.  He  had  secured 
the  alliance  of  nearly  all  the  North  German  states ;  and  the 
Italians  stood  ready  to  strike  a  blow  for  their  own  freedom 
and  thus  to  keep  a  portion  of  the  Austrian  army  busy  in  North 
Italy. 

But  the  world,  not  knowing  the  completeness  of  Bismarck's 
preparations,  was  astonished  at  the  shortness  of  the  war. 
The  Prussians  took  the  aggressive.       In  the  closing  days   of 


20G  THE    TEUTONIC    NATIONS  book  i 

June  they  entered  Bohemia  in  three  grand  divisions.  First 
winning  a  number  of  minor  engagements  and  meeting  with  but 
one  or  two  repulses,  they  converged  near  Koniggratz,  a  forti- 
fied Bohemian  town.  Here,  on  July  3,  took  place  the  decisive 
battle  of  the  Avar.  Some  400,000  men  were  engaged  in  it,  and 
it  was  for  a  time  fiercely  contested.  But  in  the  end  the  supe- 
rior strategy  of  von  Moltke  caused  the  Austrians  to  flee  in 
disorder  from  the  field.  Their  power  was  now  completely 
broken.  Other  reverses  followed  in  rapid  succession.  The 
Prussians  pushed  their  way  within  a  few  miles  of  Vienna,  and 
on  July  30  an  armistice  was  signed. 

Thus  in  six  weeks  the  war  was  brought  to  a  conclusion.  In 
that  brief  period  Prussia  had  humbled  a  first-rate  military 
power,  subdued  Hanover  and  Saxony  and  the  other  German 
states  that  had  sided  with  her  rival,  and  restored  Venetia  to 
Italy.  For  though  the  Italian  armies  had  met  with  nothing 
but  disaster,  Prussia  did  not  forget  her  ally  when  the  terms  of 
peace  were  made.  Moreover,  she  had  brought  the  Germanic 
Confederation  to  an  end,  owing  to  the  opposition  she  had  en- 
countered in  its  Diet.  The  Confederation,  indeed,  seemed  to 
be  no  longer  needed.  Prussia  herself  had  become  a  centre 
round  which  the  other  German  states  could  rally.  She  had 
now  a  commanding  position  in  the  German  world. 

Thus  the  policy  of  Bismarck  was  triumphant.  All  criticism 
of  his  arbitrary  conduct  ceased  ;  and  on  returning  to  Berlin 
from  the  theatre  of  action  he  was  received  with  the  wildest 
enthusiasm.  The  Chamber  of  Deputies  was  now  ready  to 
make  any  grants  he  desired  for  the  army;  and  this  willing- 
ness he  turned  to  good  account.  The  army  was  kept  in  a  high 
state  of  efficiency.  Bismarck  did  not  seek  further  wars,  but  war 
soon  came.  In  1870  began  the  deadly  struggle  with  France. 
Though  Bismarck  was  not  the  means  of  bringing  it  on,  he  saw 
in  it  a  great  opportunity.  Not  only  did  the  North  German 
Parliament  vote  to  give  Prussia  its  support,  but,  contrary  to 
Napoleon's  expectation,  the  South  German  states  agreed  to  as- 
sist her  also.  By  the  help  of  these  allies  Prussia  was  able 
to  bring  into  the  field  over  six  hundred  thousand  men,  while 
France  could  not  muster  much  more  than  half  that  number. 
So  Bismarck  felt  as  sure  of  the  result  as  he  liad  been  on  tlie 
eve  of  the  war  with  Austria. 


PART  iTi  GERMANY  207 

The  conflict  began,  and  once  more  was  Bismarck's  confi- 
dence shown  to  be  jnstified.  Erance  offered  a  more  obsti- 
nate resistance  to  the  Prussian  armies  than  Austria  had  done ; 
but  soon  Napoleon  was  a  prisoner  and  Paris  in  a  state  of  siege. 
The  position  of  Prussia  had  now  become  a  commanding  one. 
Her  magnificent  triumphs  roused  all  Germany  to  enthusiasm. 
The  states  were  ready  to  follow  wherever  she  would  lead.  Her 
King  could  well  assume  imperial  dignity.  A  parliament  of 
the  North  German  states  met  at  Berlin  on  November  24  and 
voted  to  request  the  King  of  Prussia  to  become  German  Em- 
peror. The  King  granted  the  request.  On  January  18, 1871, 
the  Empire  was  proclaimed  at  Versailles  amid  the  booming  of 
cannon  and  the  acclamations  of  assembled  princes.  William  I. 
was  solemidy  declared  German  Emperor. 

Thus  the  aspirations  of  the  German  jDCople  were  satisfied. 
They  had  gained  unity.  More  even  than  this  —  they  had 
gained  political  freedom.  For  it  was  over  no  group  of  des- 
potic states  that  the  new  Emperor  assumed  his  sway.  The 
struggle  for  constitutional  rights  had  been  long  and  severe, 
but  it  had  been  won.  Little  by  little  the  old  despotisms  had 
crumbled  before  modern  ideas.  The  states  that  gave  their  hom- 
age to  William  I.  Avere  constitutional  states.  Very  gradually 
their  sovereigns  had  granted  the  demands  of  their  subjects. 
None  of  them  would  any  longer  have  dared  to  claim  absolute 
power.  It  was  only  a  few  years  since  William,  as  King  of 
Prussia,  had  at  Bismarck's  instigation  crushed  free  speech  and 
set  aside  his  Parliament.  But  such  a  high-handed  proceeding 
was  no  longer  possible  in  a  single  state  of  the  new  Empire. 

And  yet,  though  constitutionalism  was  triumphant,  absolu- 
tism was  not  dead.  Bismarck  was  recognized  as  the  unifier 
of  Germany.  His  power  was  almost  unbounded.  William 
gave  him  the  rank  of  Prince  and  made  him  Chancellor  of 
the  Empire.  But  the  Chancellor  had  never  shown  himself  a 
friend  of  popular  government,  and  to  the  end  of  his  political 
career  he  used  his  authority  in  an  arbitrary  and  masterful  way. 
He  could  not  ignore  the  Reichstag,  or  National  Parliament,  as 
he  had  the  Prussian  Chamber  of  Deputies ;  but  he  stood  ready 
to  intimidate  or  coerce  it  whenever  it  opposed  him.  During 
his  long  term  of  ofiice  he  strove  with  varying  success  to  accom- 
plish six  great  ends. 


208  THE   TEUTONIC    NATIONS  book  i 

I.  He  was  fully  determined  to  maintain  Germany's  military 
prestige  and  power.  Having  wrested  Alsace  and  Lorraine 
from  France,  he  knew  that  Germany  must  always  be  prepared 
for  war  with  that  irritated  and  resentful  nation.  The  French 
strained  every  nerve  to  maintain  a  vast  and  efficient  army. 
Bismarck  felt  that  Germany's  army  must  be  equally  large  and 
strong.  Sometimes  the  Reichstag  objected  to  the  expenditure 
of  money  and  energy  necessary  for  keeping  so  many  men  under 
arms;  but  it  did  not  dare  to  imperil  the  safety  of  the  Empire 
by  resisting  the  Chancellor's  demands.  In  the  end,  Bismarck 
got  whatever  grants  of  men  and  money  he  wanted. 

II.  For  the  perfect  security  of  the  Empire,  the  alliance  of 
other  powers  was  necessary.  For  a  time,  after  the  war  with 
France  was  ended,  Germany  maintained  the  most  friendly 
relations  with  Russia.  But  Bismarck  soon  became  convinced 
that  Austria  and  Italy  were  more  valuable  allies.  Accordingly, 
he  induced  these  states  to  form  with  Germany  that  famous 
league  which  is  known  as  the  Triple  Alliance,  and  which  still 
exists.  But  even  this  arrangement  did  not  satisfy  him.  Hav- 
ing dropped  the  Tsar,  he  became  anxious  to  secure  his  friend- 
ship. In  1884  he  formed  a  secret  treaty  of  "benevolent 
neutrality  "  with  Russia,  which  lasted  till  his  retirement  from 
office  in  1890.  The  existence  of  this  treaty  was  not  revealed 
till  1896,  and  its  disclosure  called  down  severe  censure  upon 
the  aged  statesman.  The  proceeding  cannot  be  regarded  as 
strictly  honorable.  Austria  and  Italy  have  resented  it  since 
it  was  made  known,  and  have  considered  that  they  were  not 
fairly  dealt  with.  But  Bismarck  always  worshipped  might 
more  than  right.  To  secure  a  great  end  he  sometimes  adopted 
questionable  means. 

III.  Bismarck  made  vigorous  war  upon  the  Roman  Catholic 
clergy  in  order  to  bring  them  entirely  under  Government  con- 
trol. Pope  Pius  IX.  was  not  wholly  friendly  to  the  new 
Empire,  and  the  clergy  sometimes  reflected  his  spirit.  In 
1873,  therefore,  laws  were  passed  by  the  Prussian  Parliament 
which  greatly  curtailed  clerical  authority.  They  were  called 
the  May  Laws,  because  they  were  passed  in  the  month  of 
May ;  and  were  designed  to  regulate  punishments  inflicted  by 
ecclesiastical  dignitaries,  and  to  require  university  training 
of  those  who  were  to  be  priests.     The  Reichstag  also  passed 


PART    III 


GERMANY  209 


a  law  which  made  it  illegal  to  discharge  clerical  functions  with- 
out the  consent  of  the  Government. 

The  passage  of  these  laws  produced  a  coolness  between  the 
Vatican  and  Germany.  The  Pope  declared  them  invalid.  The 
German  Catholics  were  angered  by  them.  But  they  were  for 
a  time  rigidly  carried  out,  and  as  a  result  many  Catholic  sees 
and  bishoprics  became  vacant,  for  their  heads  came  into  con- 
flict with  the  laws  and  were  removed.  But  finally  Bismarck 
felt  inclined  to  make  concession.  He  needed  the  support  of 
the  powerful  Catholic,  or  Centre,  party  in  the  Eeichstag  for 
his  financial  and  other  schemes.  Moreover,  Pius  IX.  died  in 
1878  and  was  succeeded  by  Leo  XIII. ,  who  was  not  unfriendly 
to  the  Empire.  Negotiations  were  therefore  opened  between 
the  Vatican  and  Berlin.  At  first  they  resulted  in  failure;  but 
in  the  end  the  obnoxious  laws  were  greatly  modified,  and  some 
of  them  repealed.  Bismarck  thus  gained  the  support  of  the 
Catholic  party.  As  the  Catholics  comprise  a  third  of  the  pop- 
ulation of  Germany,  it  was  highly  important  to  secure  their 
entire  good-will.  So  there  was  no  course  open  to  Bismarck 
except  concession,  though  doubtless  it  was  humiliating  to  him. 

IV.  The  Socialists  showed  such  activity  and  such  destruc- 
tive tendencies  that  Bismarck  determined  to  suppress  them. 
They  did  not,  in  the  early  years  of  the  Empire,  command  many 
votes  in  the  Reichstag;  but  they  were  splendidly  organized 
for  spreading  their  opinions.  Their  journals  were  numerous, 
their  printing-presses  were  busy,  their  orators  were  unceasingly 
active.  Their  literature  was  widely  circulated,  and  was  con- 
stantly winning  new  converts  to  their  dangerous  views.  In 
1876  Bismarck  endeavored  to  pass  a  law  to  keep  them  in  check ; 
but  the  Reichstag  would  not  give  him  its  support.  The  matter 
was  accordingly  dropped,  but  was  presently  revived  under  new 
and  exciting  conditions.  In  the  spring  of  1878  two  attempts 
were  made  in  quick  succession  upon  the  life  of  the  Emperor. 
The  Reichstag,  which,  after  the  first  attempt,  had  still  refused 
to  pass  a  coercive  measure,  was  dissolved.  The  Conservatives 
gained  in  the  elections.  By  a  vote  of  221  to  149  the  new 
Reichstag  passed  the  law  that  Bismarck  desired.  Socialism 
was  now  under  a  ban.  Its  meetings  were  to  be  dispersed,  its 
literature  confiscated,  its  presses  seized.  But  the  law  Avas  in 
operation  for  only  two  and  a  half  years ;   and  at  the  end  of 


210  THE    TEUTONIC    NATIONS  book  i 

that  time  the  Socialistic  agitation  was  by  no  means  quelled. 
The  disease  had  been  driven  beneath  the  surface,  but  it  had 
become  more  virulent  than  ever. 

V.  Internal  affairs  received  the  Chancellor's  vigorous  atten- 
tion. His  scheme  of  improvements  embraced  a  reformed  coin- 
age, the  codification  of  law,  the  nationalization  of  the  Prussian 
railways,  and  a  protective  tariff.  This  last  measure  excited 
the  opposition  of  the  Liberals,  and  it  has  not  contributed  to  the 
prosperity  of  Germany.  But,  both  to  encourage  home  industry 
and  to  substitute  indirect  for  direct  taxation,  Bismarck  believed 
it  desirable,  and  was  able  to  win  a  majority  in  the  Reichstag  to 
his  way  of  thinking.  His  tariff  legislation  may  indeed  be 
considered  a  part  of  his  effort  to  promote  State  socialism.  For, 
finding  that  he  could  not  put  down  the  Socialists,  he  determined 
to  disarm  them  by  borrowing  their  own  ideas,  and  accomplish- 
ing some  of  the  very  things  which  they  aimed  to  bring  about. 
To  lighten  direct  taxation  was  one  part  of  his  programme,  also 
to  insure  workingmen  against  accidents,  poverty,  and  distress 
in  their  old  age.  But  these  measures  did  not  bring  about  the 
desired  results.  The  Socialists  steadily  increased  in  numbers 
and  influence,  and  Bismarck  eventually  resorted  again  to 
repression.  Repression,  however,  was  as  futile  as  conciliation. 
With  every  new  election  the  Socialists  gained  more  members 
in  the  Reichstag. 

VI.  The  ceaseless  flow  of  German  emigrants  to  other 
countries  made  Bismarck  desirous  of  establishing  colonies  all 
over  the  world.  For  he  wished  to  turn  the  tide  of  emigration 
toward  lands  protected  by  the  German  flag.  But  in  carrying 
out  this  plan  he  worked  at  a  disadvantage.  The  regions  with 
temperate  climate  were  for  the  most  part  occupied.  It  was 
hard  to  find  tracts  where  Germans  could  go  and  live  content- 
edly. Africa  afforded  the  most  promising  field  for  new  settle- 
ments. Within  her  borders  Bismarck  established  several 
colonies,  including  those  of  Damaraland,  Usugara,  and 
Somaliland.  And,  in  the  Pacific,  Germany  came  into  collision 
with  Spain  over  the  Caroline  Islands,  and  acquired  a  portion 
of  New  Guinea  and  a  group  to  the  north  of  it  called  the  Bis- 
marck Isles.  But  in  no  one  of  these  new  possessions  were  the 
Germans  willing  to  settle  in  considerable  numbers.  The  tide 
of  German  emigration  to  foreign  lands  continued  as  before. 


PART  III  GERMANY  211 

On  March  9,  1888,  the  aged  Emperor  William  died,  deeply 
regretted  by  the  German  nation,  and  was  succeeded  by  the 
Crown  Prince,  under  the  historic  title,  Frederick  III.  The 
new  Emperor  had  ability  of  no  common  order  and  true  great- 
ness of  character.  He  had  played  an  important  part  in  the 
wars  with  Austria  and  France.  According  to  his  own  memoirs, 
it  was  he  and  not  Bismarck  who  first  conceived  the  plan  of 
unifying  Germany  as  the  result  of  Prussia's  brilliant  military 
successes.  But  his  reign  was  short  and  filled  with  suffering. 
On  June  15,  a  little  over  three  months  after  his  accession  to 
the  throne,  he  died  from  a  cancer  in  the  throat,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  son,  "William  II. 

The  change  was  an  unfortunate  one.  William  did  not 
inherit  his  father's  broad  and  liberal  mind.  Arrogant,  narrow, 
and  presumptuous,  he  has  given  great  offence  to  the  progres- 
sive element  of  the  nation.  The  army  is  his  pride.  Its 
officers  are  treated  with  special  indulgence  and  favoritism. 
Opposition  he  does  not  readily  brook,  as  his  conception  of  his 
power  is  autocratic.  His  own  speech  is  immoderate,  reckless, 
and  unbridled.  The  free  expression  of  opinion  by  his  subjects 
he  resents,  and  punishes  by  law  when  possible.  But  the  cour- 
age, the  resolution,  the  manliness,  of  his  line  quite  fully  belong 
to  him  ;  and  in  spite  of  the  extravagant  nature  of  his  utter- 
ances he  hardly  deserves  the  epithet  of  ''  madman,'-  which  the 
Social  Democrats  apply  to  him. 

This  self-willed  sovereign  did  not  long  endure  the  dictatorial 
ways  of  his  Chancellor.  In  1890  Bismarck  was  obliged  to  retire 
from  office,^  and  was  succeeded  by  General  Caprivi.  The  new 
Chancelloi",  who  was  soon  dignified  with  the  title  of  Count, 
showed  himself  a  discreet  and  able  man.  The  task  of  induc- 
ing the  Reichstag  to  change  the  organization  of  the  army  he 
accomplished  with  admirable  tact  and  skill.  But  even  while 
his  administration  won  him  friends,  it  raised  up  numerous 
enemies  among  those  who  disliked  his  devotion  to  the  mili- 
tary interests  of  the  Empire.     And  finally,  as  he  encountered 

1  Bismarck  died  on  July  31,  1898.  Perhaps  no  statesman  of  the  century 
wrought  more  important  political  clianges  than  the  "  Iron  ChanceUor." 
What  he  stood  for  to  the  Germans  and  why  they  regarded  him  with 
unhounded  admiration  is  well  told  in  the  essay  on  Bismarck  in  Kuno 
Francke's  "  Glimx^ses  of  German  Culture." 


212  THE    TEUTONIC    NATIONS  book  i 


increasing  opposition,  he  resigned  in  1894,  and  was  succeeded 
by  Prince  Hohenlohe.  No  change,  however,  was  made  in  the 
administrative  policy. 

Since  the  Franco-Prussian  War  the  relations  of  Germany 
with  the  outside  world  have  been  for  the  most  part  tranquil. 
Neither  have  there  been  any  serious  domestic  troubles  besides 
the  one  or  two  recorded.  The  German  Empire  has  now  stood 
for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century.  It  has  gained  in  wealth 
and  population.  Its  career  has  been  highly  prosperous.  It 
has  taken  its  place  among  the  great  and  strong  nations  of  the 
world.  Indeed,  in  military  efficiency  it  is  perhaps  the  strong- 
est of  them  all.  Domestic  reforms,  moreover,  are  not  neglected. 
In  1896  a  new  Civil  Code  was  adopted  which  had  been  in  prepa- 
ration for  a  number  of  years.  It  effects  some  very  important 
changes,  including  a  uniform  legal  system  for  the  whole  Em- 
pire, compulsory  civil  marriage,  and  increased  stringency  in  the 
divorce  laws.  And  progressive  legislation  in  regard  to  finance 
and  other  vital  matters  is  yearly  proposed. 

Yet  the  condition  of  Germany  does  not  seem  to  be  wholly 
sound.  The  Empire  is  not  organized  upon  a  basis  of  equality. 
The  different  states  do  not  possess  the  same  powers  and  privi- 
leges, for  Prussia  has  a  dominant  position.^  Three-fifths  of 
the  population  of  Germany  are  within  her  border.  Of  the 
fifty-eight  members  of  the  Bundesrath  she  has  seventeen.  In 
the  Reichstag  she  has  236  members  out  of  397.  Her  King  is 
always  tlie  head  of  the  nation,  and  usually  her  Prime  Minister 
is  its  Chancellor.  The  smaller  states  are,  therefore,  over- 
shadowed by  this  strong  one.  Authority  and  privilege  con- 
stitute the  federative  principle  which  holds  the  separate  state 
units  together.  Yet  absolute  equality  is  the  recognized  prin- 
ciple of  citizenship ;  for  universal  suffrage  prevails  through- 
out the  Empire.  Hence  the  states  are  bound  together  on  one 
theory,  and  individuals  on  a  different,  and,  indeed,  a  contrary 
one.  At  present  these  two  theories  seem  to  produce  no  con- 
flict. The  Germans  have  a  deep-seated  respect  for  authority, 
which  makes  them  acquiesce  in  Prussia's  dominant  position. 
But  with  the  growth  of  socialistic  and  democratic  ideas  may 
come  an  assault  upon  the  federative  principle  of  the  Empire. 

And  already  are  heard  angry  sounds  which,  perhaps,  herald 

1  "  Governments  and  Parties  in  Continental  Europe,"  Vol.  I.  Ch.  V. 


PART    III 


GERMANY  213 


a  political  tempest.  The  Social  Democrats  are  ever  gaining 
in  numbers  and  influence,  and  they  are  extremely  bold  and 
outspoken.  In  the  Reichstag  they  make  a  continual  attack 
upon  the  lingering  absolutism  of  the  Government.  Its  attempts 
to  suppress  them  by  force  they  denounce  with  vehemence,  and 
the  costly  and  oppressive  military  system  excites  their  fiercest 
opposition.  By  revolution  or  by  peaceable  progress  they  aim 
to  overthrow  the  present  social  and  political  system,  and  to 
establish  communism  in  its  stead.  That  their  hopes  will  be 
realized  seems  improbable.  Yet  the  moderate  Liberals  are  to 
some  extent  in  sympathy  with  them,  and  are  ready  to  unite 
with  them  to  secure  a  more  truly  democratic  form  of  govern- 
ment. For  the  government  of  William  II.,  which  makes  criti- 
cism of  the  Emperor  a  ground  for  imprisonment,  exalts  the 
military  power  above  the  civil,  and  prizes  colonial  expansion 
more  than  domestic  progress,  the  Liberals  do  not  feel  profound 
respect.  Democracy,  therefore,  seems  likely  to  grow  upon 
German  soil.  Whether  its  growth  will  mean  the  disruption 
of  the  Empire  remains  to  be  seen.  It  is  probable,  however, 
that  the  people,  with  universal  suffrage  in  their  hands,  will 
accomplish  all  political  changes  by  slow  and  orderly  process. 
Having  gained  national  unity  they  will  cling  to  it  tenaciously ; 
and  the  Empire,  which  healed  the  dissensions  of  a  thousand 
years,  will  not  easily  lose  their  allegiance. 

The  German  Empire  established  by  the  Constitution  of  1871 
is  composed  of  twenty-six  states,  which  differ  greatly  in  size 
and  importance,  and  bear  the  various  characters  of  kingdoms, 
grand  duchies,  duchies,  principalities,  and  free  towns.  The 
Empire  has  an  area  of  208,738  square  miles,  and  a  population 
of  about  53,000,000.  Its  head  is  the  King  of  Prussia,  who  by 
the  provisions  of  the  Constitution  is  recognized  as  German  Em- 
peror. The  Emperor  has  the  control  of  the  army ;  can  declare 
defensive  but  not  offensive  war ;  make  peace,  form  treaties, 
and  appoint  and  receive  ambassadors.  There  are  two  legisla- 
tive Chambers,  the  upper  of  which  is  the  Bundesrath.  This 
body  is  composed  of  fifty-eight  members  and  meets  once  a 
year.  The  members  are  appointed  annually  by  the  govern- 
ments of  the  several  states.  The  number  allotted  to  each  state 
is  proportional  to  its  population.     The  Bundesrath  is  presided 


214  THE    TEUTONIC    NATIONS  book  i 

over  by  the  Chancellor  of  the  Empire.  It  is  an  administrative 
and  advisory  board  as  well  as  a  legislative  body.  The  Reichs- 
tag has  397  deputies,  who  are  chosen  by  universal  suffrage 
for  three  years.  Like  the  members  of  the  English  House  of 
Commons,  they  serve  without  pay.  All  laws  passed  by  an 
absolute  majority  in  the  Bundesrath  and  the  Reichstag  must 
receive  the  assent  of  the  Emperor,  who  has  no  power  of  veto. 
The  Reichstag  elects  its  own  President.  The  Chancellor  is 
allowed  to  attend  its  deliberations. 

Education  is  compulsory  throughout  Germany,  and  the  per- 
centage of  illiteracy  is  exceedingly  small.  All  forms  of  wor- 
ship are  tolerated  and  absolute  religious  freedom  exists. 

The  annual  expenditure  is  about  $300,000,000.  There  is  no 
yearly  surplus  or  deficit;  for  the  states  contribute  whatever 
sum  is  needed  in  addition  to  the  returns  from  the  national 
sources  of  income.  These  returns  come  chiefly  from  customs 
and  excise  duties  and  a  few  state  monopolies.  The  national 
debt  is  a  little  over  $400,000,000.  But  each  state  has  also 
its  own  separate  debt,  that  of  Prussia  alone  being  over 
$1,000,000,000. 

The  army  of  Germany  is  without  an  equal  in  the  world.  By 
the  conditions  of  service  adopted  in  1893  every  German  able 
to  bear  arms  is  obliged  to  serve  two  years  in  the  army  under 
active  duty,  or,  if  he  belongs  to  the  cavalry  or  horse  artillery, 
for  three  years.  He  must  also  serve  for  several  years  more 
in  the  army  of  reserve.  The  total  strength  of  the  regular 
standing  army  is  fixed  by  law  at  479,229  men.  The  organiza- 
tion of  the  army  is  so  perfect  that  it  has  been  partially 
adopted  by  other  European  states.  The  navy,  though  inferior 
to  that  of  England  or  France,  is  large  and  formidable  and  is 
growing  rapidly. 


CHAPTER   II 

HOLLAND 

The  path  of  political  progress  is  supposed  to  lead  toward 
democracy ;  but  Holland  has  passed  from  republicanism  to 
monarchy.  Born  midst  the  throes  of  tlie  long  struggle  for 
liberty,  the  Dutch  Republic  lasted  for  over  two  hundred  years 
and  won  for  itself  a  proud  place  among  the  nations.  Like  the 
Greeks,  the  Dutch  showed  that  a  small  people  could  have  a 
great  destiny.  They  gained  their  independence  by  the  most 
heroic  struggle  recorded  in  history;  they  rivalled  England 
upon  the  sea,  and  in  art  and  learning  they  achieved  the 
highest  renown. 

But  in  time  they  had  to  give  place  to  greater  and  more 
powerful  nations.  The  Dutch  Republic  had  served  liberty 
as  well  as  England  in  the  mighty  march  of  events.  Gradually 
it  sank  into  the  rank  of  a  second-rate  nation  and  lost  all  claim 
to  supremacy  upon  the  seas ;  and  a  disastrous  war  with  Eng- 
land in  1782  was  the  culmination  of  national  misfortunes. 
And  meanwhile  internal  troubles  had  arisen  and  caused 
serious  disturbance.  The  House  of  Orange,  to  which  the 
Republic  originally  owed  its  greatness,  had  won  devoted 
friends  by  its  eminent  services  and  created  bitter  enemies  by 
its  arrogance.  In  1747  the  office  of  Stadtholder,  or  chief  ex- 
ecutive, was  made  hereditary  with  tliis  House,  which,  thus 
strengthened,  aspired  to  the  loftier  dignity  of  royal  power.  If 
its  head  had  been  a  man  of  commanding  abilities  this  ambition 
might  possibly  have  been  realized.  But  William  V.,  who  be- 
came Stadtholder  in  1751,  was  weak  and  inefficient;  and  his 
incapable  rule  became  so  unpopular  that  it  was  unable  to  rally 
the  people  to  its  support  in  time  of  need.  The  outbreak  of 
the  French  Revolution  caused  a  wave  of  democratic  feeling  to 
flow  over   the   Netherlands.     Accordingly,  when  the   French 

215 


216  THE   TEUTONIC   NATIONS  book  i 

invaded  Holland  toward  the  end  of  1794,  the  Dutch  welcomed 
their  approach,  and  William  was  obliged  to  flee  from  the 
country.^  And  with  his  disappearance  the  Dutch  Republic, 
which  had  existed  from  the  days  of  AVilliam  the  Silent,  came 
to  an  end.  On  February  16,  1795,  deputies  from  the  various 
provinces  of  the  Netherlands  met  at  the  Hague,  abolished  the 
Stadtholderate,  and  established  the  Batavian  Republic.  A 
new  Constitution,  which  granted  a  more  liberal  system  of 
representative  government,  was  adopted,  and  for  a  time  it  ap- 
peared that  the  Dutch  people  had  made  a  decided  political 
gain. 

But  the  gain  soon  proved  to  be  illusory.  The  new  Constitu- 
tion, instead  of  securing  order  and  progress,  was  but  the  begin- 
ing  of  political  changes.  In  the  course  of  a  few  years  the 
form  of  government  was  changed  several  times ;  and  in  1806 
Napoleon  Bonaparte  made  his  brother,  Louis  Kapoleon,  King 
of  Holland,  and  gave  the  country  a  new  Constitution  which 
recognized  the  Salic  Law,  guaranteed  religious  freedom,  and 
vested  predominant  authority  in  the  King.^ 

Thus  the  Dutch  adopted  monarchy  under  compulsion ;  but 
before  many  years  they  accepted  it  of  their  own  free  will. 
For  a  short  time  indeed  they  lost  their  independence  altogether ; 
for  in  1810  Louis  Napoleon  withdrew  from  the  country  after  a 
brief  attempt  at  reigning,  and  in  the  same  year  Napoleon 
Bonaparte  made  Holland  a  portion  of  his  Empire.  But  in 
1813,  when  his  power  was  seen  to  be  waning,  the  Dutch  reas- 
serted their  independence.  As  their  attempt  at  democracy  in 
1795  had  not  been  crowned  with  success,  and  as  the  powers  of 
Europe  had  set  themselves  against  the  principles  of  the  French 
Revolution,  the  Dutch  people  now  showed  a  conservative  tem- 
per in  choosing  their  form  of  government.  Instead  of  reviving 
the  Republic  they  established  a  monarchy;  and  in  spite  of 
the  antagonisms  that  had  been  created  by  the  last  Stadt- 
holder,  it  was  to  the  House  of  Orange  that  they  now  looked 
for  a  sovereign.  So  powerful  was  the  influence  of  the  reac- 
tionary movement.  William  V.  himself,  who  had  taken  refuge 
in  England  when  he  was  driven  from  the  Netherlands,  was  no 

1  The  feeling  of  the  Dutch  people  at  this  time  is  described  in  Carr's  "  Hol- 
land," published  in  ISOfi  (see  p.  78). 

2  This  Constitution  is  given  in  full  in  Carr's  "  Holland,"  pp.  80  et  seq. 


PART    III 


HOLLAND  217 


longer  living ;  but  his  son  Frederick  William  was  called  to  the 
throne.  Thus  the  long  conflict  between  the  House  of  Orange 
and  its  enemies  resulted  in  the  complete  victory  of  the  former ; 
and  thus  the  Koyalists  finally  succeeded  in  establishing  mon- 
archy on  the  free  soil  of  Holland. 

William  I.,  King  of  the  Netherlands,  was  the  title  given  to 
William  Frederick  by  the  notables  of  Holland  in  1814.  The 
Congress  of  Vienna  recognized  him  as  a  sovereign,  and  added 
Belgium  to  his  domain.  But  that  autocratic  body,  which, 
under  Metternich's  guidance,  supported  the  cause  of  absolutism, 
did  not  try  to  make  the  newly  established  monarchy  into  a 
despotism.  This  the  Dutch  would  scarcely  have  tolerated,  for 
they  had  first  risen  to  greatness  by  defying  the  tyranny  of 
Philip  II.  Reactionary  though  they  were  in  reverting  to  a 
monarchy,  they  stood  fast  for  the  principle  of  constitutional 
sovereignty.  The  power  of  the  King  was  hedged  about  by  a 
Constitution  which  distinguished  between  the  legislative  and 
the  executive  functions  of  government,  and  placed  the  former 
largely  in  the  hands  of  a  parliamentary  body.  The  crown  was 
made  hereditary  with  the  House  of  Orange.  In  elevating 
William  to  the  rank  of  king  the  powers  had  been  actuated,  not 
by  generosity,  but  by  their  regard  for  the  interests  of  Europe. 
For  the  importance  of  the  Netherlands  region  had  been  shown 
by  Napoleon's  schemes  of  conquest;  and  in  making  it  into  a 
kingdom  the  powers  hoped  to  prevent  the  aggrandizement  of 
France.  But  their  ideas  of  nation-making  were  crude  and 
faulty.  Believing  that  the  prosperity  of  a  kingdom  depended 
upon  the  power  of  its  king,  and  not  upon  the  temper  of  his  sub- 
jects, they  ignored  the  wishes  and  feelings  of  Belgium.  In- 
deed, they  supposed  that  both  Holland  and  Belgium  would 
consider  it  an  honor  to  be  counted  among  the  kingdoms  of 
Europe.  But  differences  of  race  and  religion  soon  caused  dis- 
sension between  the  northern  and  southern  provinces  of  the 
new  kingdom,  and  led  to  the  division  elsewhere  described. 

Shorn  of  half  of  his  domains,  William  found  a  recompense 
for  this  loss  of  territory  in  the  union  and  loyalty  of  his  sub- 
jects. He  reigned  until  October,  1840,  and  then  abdicated  in 
favor  of  his  son,  William  II.  Under  this  sovereign  the  king- 
dom was  prosperous ;  and  owing  to  the  conservative  Dutch 
temper  the  wide-spread  revolutions  of  1848  caused  no  serious 


218  THE   TEUTONIC   NATIONS  book  i 

disturbances  in  Holland.  The  Liberal  movement  did  indeed 
extend  into  the  Netherlands  ;  but  as  a  new  Constitution  was 
granted  on  April  17,  1848,  very  soon  after  Louis  Philippe  was 
overthrown  and  the  insurrection  in  Germany,  Austria,  and  Italy 
had  begun,  there  was  no  occasion  for  a  vehement  outbreak. 
For  the  new  Constitution  was  liberal  in  character.  It  secured 
to  the  people  every  fundamental  right  which  they  desired. 
Not  fuller  guarantees  of  liberty,  but  greater  respect  for  exist- 
ing ones  was  what  was  needed  for  the  political  progress  of  the 
country.  William  II.  died  on  March  17,  1849,  before  he  had 
had  time  to  shoAv  whether  he  was  ready  to  abide  by  the  Con- 
stitution he  had  granted.  But  his  son  William  III.,  who  suc- 
ceeded him  at  the  age  of  thirty-two,  soon  made  it  apparent 
that  he  possessed  the  stubborn  temper  of  his  House.  Possibly 
his  arrogance  was  increased  by  his  Russian  inheritance,  for  his 
mother  Avas  a  sister  of  the  Czar  Nicholas  I.,  who  ruled  his  own 
country  like  a  despot.  Although  the  Constitution  required  the 
King  to  govern  through  the  party  that  was  in  power,  William 
showed  no  disposition  to  respect  the  provision.  A  Conserva- 
tive himself,  he  insisted  upon  retaining  Conservative  ministers 
even  when  the  Liberals  had  a  majority  in  the  National  Parlia- 
ment. Hence  arose  a  long  constitutional  struggle  between  the 
King  and  the  Conservatives  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  Liberal 
party  on  the  other;  and  thus  Holland  was  drawn  into  that 
warfare  which  was  waged  all  over  Europe.  Fortunately  for 
the  cause  of  progress,  Holland  was  not  without  a  great  Liberal 
statesman  in  this  important  political  period.  M.  de  Thorbecke 
was  for  many  years  the  recognized  leader  of  the  Liberal  party, 
and  under  his  able  guidance  it  finally  succeeded  in  scoring  a 
decided  triumph. 

The  storm  broke  in  1806  over  the  question  of  putting  an  end 
to  forced  labor  in  the  island  of  Java.  In  1862-63  the  States- 
General  had  voted  to  abolish  negro  slavery  in  Holland's  West 
Indian  possessions ;  and  the  Liberals  were  desirous  that  eman- 
cipation should  be  extended  also  to  her  holdings  in  the  far 
East.  For  they  considered  that  the  labor  system  which 
existed  in  Java  and  other  islands  in  the  Asiatic  Archipelago 
was  no  better  than  slavery.  But  this  proposition  was  stoutly 
resisted  by  the  Conservatives,  who  declared  that  the  abolition 
of   forced  labor   in   Java  would  ruin  the  island   and   cripple 


PART  in  HOLLAND  219 

Holland  itself.  Accordingly,  they  succeeded  in  defeating  the 
first  emancipation  bill,  which  was  brought  forward  in  1865. 
But  they  ruined  their  own  caiise  by  their  high-handed  conduct ; 
for,  in  defiance  of  popular  opinion,  the  Government  chose  for 
Governor-General  of  the  East  Indian  Colonies  a  man  who  had 
sold  his  liberal  principles  for  political  preferment.  This  act 
called  forth  a  vote  of  censure  from  the  States-General,  and  the 
King  met  the  situation  by  dissolving  the  Second  Chambei-, 
which  represented  the  people.  He  accompanied  the  dissolu- 
tion with  a  proclamation  to  the  voters  of  the  realm,  in  which 
he  thus  defended  his  own  political  attitude :  ''  The  continual 
changing  of  my  responsible  advisers  would  gradually  become 
pernicious  to  the  moral  and  material  well-being  of  the  nation, 
by  crippling  the  powers  of  government.  Steadiness  of  aim,  on 
the  contrary,  increases  the  power  of  the  administration,  and  of 
the  executive." 

The  election  which  was  held  on  October  31,  1866,  showed  a 
slight  Conservative  gain,  and  the  King  was  so  far  encouraged. 
But  the  Liberals  still  had  a  small  majority  in  the  Second 
Chamber,  and  they  Avere  able  to  make  themselves  felt  in  the 
following  year.  For  in  1867,  the  duchy  of  Luxemburg,  which 
had  been  granted  to  William  in  1815,  not  as  a  part  of  his 
kingdom,  but  as  a  private  possession,  became  the  subject  of  a 
special  conference^  of  plenipotentiaries  of  the  great  powers, 
Holland,  Belgium,  and  Italy ;  and  the  Liberals  were  not  satis- 
fied with  the  Government's  action  in  the  matter.  This  dissat- 
isfaction the  Second  Chamber  expressed  in  a  formal  vote ;  and 
on  November  26  it  rejected  the  foreign  budget  by  a  majority 
of  two.  The  ministers  consequently  offered  their  resignation ; 
but  the  King  declined  to  accept  it,  and  resorted  once  more  to 
the  policy  of  dissolution.  The  new  elections  were  \wld  on 
February  22, 1868,  and  resulted  adversely  to  the  King;  for  the 
Government's  supporters  now  numbered  but  thirty-five  against 
thirty-eight  who  were  ready  to  vote  in  opposition. 

Still  the  King  refused  to  yield.  When  the  new  session  of 
the  States-General  was  opened  on  February  25,  the  opening 
speech  of  the  Government  ignored  the  fact  that  its  supporters 
were  in  a  minority,  and  plainly  intimated  that  it  expected  the 

1  Luxeniburi;  was  finally  made  a  neutral  province,  and  its  fortress  was 
dismantled  in  1S72. 


220  THE   TEUTONIC   NATIONS  book  i 


States-General  to  give  it  a  willing  support.  "  Let  us  all,"  it 
concludes,  ''unite  in  affection  toward  our  sovereign,  and  in 
care  for  his  faithful  people,  and  the  country  will  profit  by  our 
labors." 

This  subtle  appeal  to  the  loyalty  of  the  people  inclined  the 
less  resolute  Liberals  to  a  policy  of  conciliation ;  but  it  did  not 
turn  M.  de  Thorbecke  from  his  course.  Uncompromising  in 
his  advocacy  of  parliamentary  rights,  he  spoke  on  March  2 
upon  the  political  issues  before  the  country,  and  declared  that 
the  frequent  dissolution  of  the  Chamber  was  uncalled  for. 
This  view  was  maintained  by  other  Liberals,  who  severely  con- 
demned the  Ministry  for  complying  with  the  King's  illegal 
demands.  The  Government's  policy  was  defended  by  the 
Minister  of  the  Interior  and  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs ; 
but  their  pleas  did  not  prevent  the  Chamber  from  passing  on 
March  21  the  following  resolution  by  a  vote  of  thirty-nine  to 
thirty-four :  "  The  House,  having  heard  the  statements  of  the 
ministers,  is  of  opinion  that  the  country's  interests  did  not 
require  the  last  dissolution  of  the  Chamber."  This  vindication 
of  constitutional  privilege  was  followed  on  April  28  by  another 
act  which  reflected  upon  the  Government ;  for  on  that  date,  by 
a  vote  of  thirty-seven  to  thirty-five,  the  Second  Chamber  re- 
jected the  estimates  of  the  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs. 
Thereupon  the  Ministry  tendered  their  resignation,  which  the 
King  accepted.  But  although  it  was  de  Thorbecke  who  had 
secured  the  triumph  for  the  Constitutionalists,  the  King  would 
not  at  once  ask  him  to  form  a  new  Cabinet.  Even  as  Queen 
Victoria  tried  to  make  Lord  Hartington  Prime  Minister  in 
1880,  when  the  country  demanded  Mr.  Gladstone,  so  King 
William  ignored  M.  de  Thorbecke,  and  turned  to  men  of  more 
moderate  views.  M.  van  Riener  and  Baron  Mackay  were  each 
requested  to  select  a  Ministry,  but  each  found  the  task  impos- 
sible. There  was  therefore  na  alternative  but  to  recognize  the 
leader  of  the  Liberal  party.  On  May  23  de  Thorbecke  was 
asked  to  select  a  Cabinet.  He  formed  one  without  difficulty, 
and  the  long  constitutional  struggle  was  brought  to  an  end. 
The  conflict  was  waged  in  a  small  country  and  excited  little 
notice ;  none  the  less  it  was  one  of  the  significant  political  con- 
flicts of  the  century.  The  representatives  of  the  Dutch  people 
stood  firmly  for  their  constitutional  rights,  and  compelled  the 


PART  III  HOLLAND  221 

King  to  abandon  the  theory  that  he  could  ignore  the  will  of  his 
subjects  by  niaiutaining  an  irresponsible  Ministry.  Thus  in 
Holland,  as  in  most  of  the  progressive  nations  of  Europe,  the 
principles  of  democracy  triumphed  over  the  mediaeval  view  of 
the  royal  prerogative.  That  this  issue  of  the  struggle  was 
inevitable  may  be  admitted ;  for  the  Dutch  Liberals  Avere  as 
stubborn  as  the  King  was  arrogant.  Moreover,  the  Constitu- 
tional party  was  demanding  nothing  more  than  was  guaranteed 
in  the  fundamental  law  of  the  land ;  nothing  more  than  was 
warranted  by  the  progress  and  the  political  temper  of  the 
times.  ISTone  the  less  M.  de  Thorbecke  earned  the  lasting 
gratitude  of  his  countrymen  by  his  splendid  stand  for  consti- 
tutional liberty.  He  resisted  the  tyranny  of  the  King  in  the 
same  spirit  that  Dutch  burghers  resisted  Philip  II.,  and  his 
wise  and  lofty  statesmanship  certainly  hastened  the  downfall 
of  despotic  and  irresponsible  rule.     He  died  on  June  4,  1872.^ 

William  III.  lived  till  1<S90,  and  during  the  rest  of  his  reign 
the  course  of  affairs  in  Holland  was  for  the  most  part  orderly 
and  uneventful. 

There  were  no  serious  political  conflicts ;  but  the  Constitu- 
tion was  revised  in  18G6,  the  electoral  franchise  being  extended 
and  the  numbers  of  each  Chamber  of  the  States-General  being 
increased.  But  in  the  far  East  Holland  now  met  with  a  series 
of  disasters  through  the  long  and  wasting  war  in  Achin.  This 
state  in  the  northern  portion  of  Sumatra  was  once  an  indepen- 
dent sultanate ;  and  when  Sumatra  was  ceded  to  Holland  by 
Great  Britain  in  1824,  the  stipulation  was  made  that  the  in- 
dependence of  Achin  should  be  respected.  But  in  1871  Great 
Britain  withdrew  this  reservation,  and  war  between  the  Achi- 
nese  and  the  Dutch  speedily  followed.  A  very  costly  war  it 
proved  to  Holland,  for  the  Achinese  are  a  fierce  Mohammedan 
people,  descended  from  Malay  pirates  and  easily  incited  to 
rebellion.  Hence  the  Dutch  found  it  almost  impossible  to 
conquer  them;  for  hardly  were  they  subdued  and  pacified 
before  they  were  again  in  arms.    Year  after  year  the  war  went 

1  It  is  difficult  to  find  in  English  an  adequate  account  of  this  gifted  states- 
man. Both  before  and  after  his  death,  tlie  English  periodicals  were  strangely 
silent  about  him.  A  brief  sketch  of  his  career  is  given  in  the  earlier  editions 
of  Vapereau's  "  Dictionnaire  Universel  des  ('ontein])nraires  "  :  and  an  account 
of  the  ('OTistitutional  struggle  in  which  he  took  part  is  contained  in  Appleton's 
"  Annual  Cyclopedia,"  issues  of  1S()(J-G8. 


222  THE   TEUTONIC   NATIONS  book  i 

on,  exhausting  the  treasury  of  Holland  and  sacrificing  its 
youths.  Fresh  volunteers  were  constantly  sent  to  this  rebel- 
lious district,  only  to  perish  through  jungle  warfare  or  tropical 
disease.  For  that  strange  malady,  the  berri-berri,  caused  great 
mortality  among  the  Dutch  troops,  and  finally  made  it  difficult 
to  find  new  recruits  in  Holland  for  the  depleted  armies.^ 
When  William  died  in  1890,  Achin  was  apparently  conquered  ; 
but  in  1896  its  people  rose  once  more  in  rebellion,  and  were 
only  overcome  after  two  years  of  desperate  fighting.  But  in 
July,  1898,  their  resistance  came  to  an  end. 

William  III.  had  two  sons,  but  both  of  them  died  before  him, 
and  upon  his  death  his  g.gaiMldaughter,  Wilhelmina,  became 
heir  to  the  throne.  She  was  at  this  time  only  ten  years  of 
age,  and  her  mother,  Princess  Emma  of  Waldeck-Pyrmont, 
was  regent  during  her  minority.  As  the  people  were  thor- 
oughly loyal  to  the  Orange  dynasty,  she  encountered  no  serious 
difficulties  during  the  eight  years  of  her  regency.  Labor  riots 
now  and  then  occurred,  showing  that  even  into  this  conserva- 
tive country  the  modern  warfare  between  labor  and  capital 
had  made  its  way ;  but  they  did  not  assume  a  grave  or  threat- 
ening aspect.  And,  although  the  question  of  constitutional 
reform  was  again  raised,  the  agitation  was  not  a  stormy  one, 
and  a  bill  extending  the  suffrage  was  finally  passed  on  Septem- 
ber 6, 1896.  Accordingly,  when  Wilhelmina  came  to  her  major- 
ity, in  1898,  there  were  no  angry  clouds  in  the  political  sky. 
The  rebellion  in  Achin  had  been  suppressed,  the  kingdom  was 
united  and  its  population  was  increasing,  and  its  financial  con- 
'dition,  though  disordered  by  the  long  war  in  Achin,  was  by 
no  means  desperate  or  alarming.  The  coronation  of  Wilhel- 
mina took  place  amid  wide  popular  rejoicing  and  universal 
expressions  of  loyalty  and  affection  on  September  6,  1898. 

Holland  is  one  of  the  most  densely  populated  countries  in 
Europe,  having  an  area  of  12,618  square  miles,  and  a  popula- 
tion of  about  5,000,000.  The  executive  power  of  the  State 
belongs  exclusively  to  the  Sovereign,  who  has  also  the  right 
to  dissolve  one  or  both  Chambers  of  Parliament,  being  bound 
only  to  order  new  elections  within  forty  days  and  to  convoke 
the  new  meeting  within  two  months. 

1  Partly  on  this  account,  a  bill  making  military  service  compulsory  was 
passed  in  1898. 


PART  in  HOLLAND  223 

Legislative  authority  is  vested  in  the  Sovereign  and  in  Par- 
liament. The  Parliament  is  termed  the  States-General  and 
consists  of  two  Houses,  the  First  Chamber  and  the  Second 
Chamber,  By  the  Constitution  of  1886  fifty  members  are 
chosen  to  sit  in  the  First  Chamber  and  one  hundred  in  the 
Second.  The  members  of  the  First  Chamber  are  elected  for 
nine  years  indirectly  by  the  various  states;  those  of  the  Sec- 
ond Chamber  are  elected  for  four  years  directly  by  the  people. 
By  the  electoral  reform  act  of  1896  the  suffrage  is  given  to  all 
male  citizens  who  are  not  under  twenty-five  years  of  age,  and 
who  can  show  positive  signs  of  capacity  and  well-being,  the 
most  important  sign  being  the  payment  of  one  or  more  direct 
State  taxes,  even  though  the  tax  be  very  small. 


CHAPTER    III 

DENMARK 

Denmark  has  not  always  been  the  small  and  insignificant 
kingdom  that  it  is  at  present.  Knut  the  Great,  who  died  in 
1035,  established  his  sway  over  Norway  and  England,  and  five 
centuries  later  Christian  I.  added  Sweden,  Schleswig,  and 
Holstein  to  his  domains,  and  made  himself  one  of  the  most 
powerful  sovereigns  of  Europe.  True,  the  kingdom  had  its 
periods  of  weakness  and  misfortune.  It  suffered  from  feeble 
rulers,  costly  wars,  and  internal  dissensions.  It  did  not  long 
hold  Sweden  in  its  grasp;  and  the  greatness  acquired  by  one 
sovereign  was  frequently  lost  by  his  successor.  Yet,  through 
the  Middle  Ages  and  the  first  century  after  the  Reformation, 
Denmark  was  a  considerable  and  important  power  in  Europe. 

But  the  common  people  did  not  profit  by  its  greatness. 
Alike  under  powerful  and  under  feeble  rulers  their  condition 
was  a  most  unhappy  one.  They  had  no  rights  and  privileges, 
all  power  being  usurped  by  the  King  or  the  nobility,  who 
sometimes  contended  fiercely  with  each  other  for  dominance 
in  the  kingdom.  But  whether  the  court  or  the  nobles  tri- 
umphed, the  common  people  were  steadily  oppressed.  Some- 
times, indeed,  they  did  make  a  stand  for  independence.  Not 
long  after  the  beginning  of  the  Reformation  we  find  them 
espousing  the  cause  of  Christian  II.  against  the  nobility;  but 
they  were  defeated  and  reduced  by  the  nobility  to  a  state  of 
slavery.  In  this  condition  of  serfdom  they  remained  without 
hope  of  relief  so  long  as  the  aristocracy  kept  their  ascendency; 
for  under  the  regime  of  these  tyrannical  nobles  even  the  clergy 
and  the  better  class  of  citizens  were  denied  all  political  privi- 
leges. But  under  the  rule  of  Frederick  III.  the  power  of  the 
nobility  was  broken.  This  able  monarch,  who  reigned  from 
1648  to  1670,  seeing  how  universally  the  nobility  was  hated, 

224 


PART  III  DENMARK  225 

enlisted  the  people  on  his  side,  overthrew  the  aristocracy,  and 
made  his  own  power  supreme  and  unquestioned  throughout  the 
kingdom.  But,  contrary  to  their  expectation,  the  people  did 
not  profit  by  this  change  of  masters.  They  had  confidently 
hoped  that  King  Frederick  would  allow  them,  through  their 
representatives,  a  share  in  the  government  of  the  country. 
But  when,  in  IGGl,  he  issued  a  new  charter,  it  was  found  he 
had  kept  all  the  power  to  himself.  The  peasants  continued  to 
be  serfs,  and  Denmark  became  an  absolute  monarchy  of  the 
most  extreme  type. 

The  era  of  absolutism,  thus  inaugurated,  continued  for  over 
a  hundred  years.  But  in  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century  the  levelling  tendencies  of  the  times  made  themselves 
felt  in  Denmark.  King  Christian  VII.  was  ruling  at  this 
period,  and  he  was  not  himself  a  progressive  monarch;  but 
though  his  reign  did  not  end  till  1808,  he  was,  in  1784,  obliged 
by  illness  to  intrust  the  powers  of  government  to  his  son 
Frederick;  and  under  this  enlightened  prince  several  needed 
reforms  were  brought  about.  The  processes  of  law  were  im- 
proved, the  press  was  allowed  greater  freedom,  and,  in  1788, 
one  year  before  the  French  Revolution,  the  peasants  were 
emancipated.  Thus,  at  the  beginning  of  the  century,  we  see 
in  Denmark,  as  in  the  other  European  nations,  signs  of  prog- 
ress and  intellectual  awakening;  but  it  is  to  be  noted  that 
the  country  still  remained  under  the  rule  of  an  arbitrary  king. 
As  yet  there  had  been  only  a  very  imperfect  growth  toward 
parliamentary  government. 

The  liberal  measures  of  Prince  Frederick  were  followed  by 
a  short  period  of  great  prosperity.  During  the  closing 
decade  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  commerce  of  Denmark 
rapidly  grew  in  volume;  but  the  gigantic  struggle  wliich 
Napoleon  forced  upon  Europe  soon  brought  this  fortunate 
period  to  an  end.  Denmark  was  ultimately  drawn  into  the 
general  conflict,  and,  espousing  the  cause  of  the  Frencli  Em- 
peror, it  shared  his  fortunes.  Its  capital  was  bombarded  and 
partially  destroyed  by  an  English  fleet;  its  resources  Avere 
exhausted;  and,  in  1814,  it  was  obliged  to  cede  Norway  to 
Sweden,  after  holding  it  for  over  four  hundred  years. 

From  this  impoverished  condition  the  country  gradually 
recovered,  after  Europe  was  relieved  from  Napoleon's  disturb- 

Q 


226  THE   TEUTONIC   NATIONS  book  i 

ing  presence.  Peace,  once  restored,  brought  with  it  a  renewal 
of  prosperity.  And  it  brought,  also,  a  growth  in  liberal  ideas 
and  a  demand  for  additional  reforms.  The  people  were  no 
longer  satisfied  to  be  without  share  in  the  government.  Filled 
with  the  spirit  of  progress,  quickened  by  development  of 
literature  and  science,  they  were  anxious  to  obtain  the  full 
rights  of  citizenship  and  to  have  a  voice  in  managing  the  affairs 
of  the  country,  instead  of  rendering  a  blind  obedience  to  the 
dictates  of  their  sovereign.  Nor  were  their  desires  for  reform 
entirely  ungratified.  Further  changes  for  the  better  were  made 
in  the  law  courts,  the  methods  of  internal  administration 
were  improved,  and  new  life  was  infused  into  the  educational 
system.  But  Frederick  VI.,  who  had  shown  a  progressive 
spirit  while  ruling  in  his  father's  stead,  proved  to  be  a  stub- 
born and  intractable  king.  Frowning  upon  all  democratic 
theories,  for  many  years  he  refused  to  make  the  smallest  con- 
cessions in  the  direction  of  constitutional  government.  But 
the  French  Revolution  of  1830  had  its  influence  in  Denmark, 
as  it  did  in  Germany  and  Italy.  Startled  by  this  outbreak, 
King  Frederick  allowed  Consultative  Chambers  to  be  estab- 
lished in  each  one  of  the  four  provinces  of  the  kingdom,  and 
thus  made  the  first  departure  from  that  absolutism  that  had 
hung  like  a  cloud  over  the  country  for  a  hundred  and  seventy 
years.  True,  the  Chambers  had  but  little  power,  for  the  King 
could  ignore  their  deliberations;  and  all  their  seats  were  filled 
by  members  of  tlie  aristocracy.  But  that  even  this  slight  def- 
erence should  be  paid  to  the  will  of  the  people  was  a  political 
fact  of  deep  significance.  It  was  a  prophecy  of  more  radical 
changes  soon  to  come. 

But  such  changes  did  not  come  under  the  next  King,  Chris- 
tian VIII.,^  who  succeeded  Frederick  VI.  in  1839.  For 
Christian,  like  Frederick,  clung  jealously  to  the  royal  preroga- 
tive and  refused  to  loosen  his  hold  upon  the  reins  of  power. 
The  affairs  of  the  kingdom  he  managed  with  ability.  He 
reformed  the  finances  of  the  country,  showed  excellent  execu- 
tive capacity,  and  tried  to  check  the  growth  of  liberal  ideas 
among  his  people  by  showing  them  that  they  could  be  thor- 
oughly well  governed  under  an  absolute  monarchical  rule.     But 

1  Christian  VIII.  was  the  cousin  of  Frederick  VI.,  and  the  grandson  of 
Frederick  V. 


PART  in  DENMARK  227 

in  this  endeavor  he  was  not  successful.  Good  government 
could  not  stay  the  march  of  ideas.  All  over  Europe  the  people 
were  clamorous  for  self-government,  and  Denmark  was  swept 
by  a  wave  of  democratic  feeling.  In  that  little  kingdom  the 
Liberal  party  was  strengthened  by  the  success  of  the  revolu- 
tionary movements  elsewhere,  and  was  helped,  moreover,  by 
the  profound  and  growing  interest  excited  by  the  Schleswig 
question.  For  this  duchy,  which  had  long  been  a  source  of 
trouble  to  the  Danish  Government,  was  now  assuming  a  com- 
manding position  in  the  national  politics.  First  separated 
from  Denmark  toward  the  close  of  the  thirteenth  century,  it 
had  afterward  been  reconquered,  again  lost,  and  finally  made 
a  part  of  the  Danish  kingdom  by  the  Peace  of  Frederiksborg, 
concluded  in  17-0.  But,  thougli  thus  incorporated  with  Den- 
mark, it  was  alienated  by  the  despotic  rule  of  the  Danish 
monarchy.  Its  people  were  partly  Germans,  and  they  became 
affected  by  the  German  aspirations  for  unity  and  freedom. 
Their  disaffection  steadily  increased  as  they  saw  constitu- 
tionalism make  headway  in  Germany,  while  its  advance  was 
effectually  stopped  in  Denmark,  their  own  country;  and  they 
determined  to  throw  off  a  rule  which  they  regarded  as  harsh 
and  oppressive.  Even  the  concessions  which  were  granted 
them  by  the  Danish  Government  only  made  them  more  clam- 
orous for  independence.  And  as  the  people  of  Ilolstein  shared 
their  feelings,  a  formidable  Schleswig-Holstein  party  was 
formed;  and  it  assumed  an  aggressive  and  threatening  attitude. 
So  long  as  Christian  VIII.  remained  upon  the  throne,  it  saw 
little  hope  of  realizing  its  ends;  but  Avhen  he  was  succeeded 
by  his  son,  Frederick  VII.,  in  January,  1848,  it  felt  that  its 
opportunity  had  come.  Its  deputies  assembled  on  the  18th 
of  the  following  March,  and  voted  to  demand  of  the  Danish 
Government  that  Sehleswig-TIolstein  be  recognized  as  an  inde- 
pendent state,  with  only  a  nominal  allegiance  to  Denmark,  and 
that  Schleswig,  like  Holstein,  be  allowed  to  join  the  German 
Confederation. 

These  demands  excited  great  indignation  throughout  Den- 
mark, and  created  a  strong  national  feeling  among  the  Danish 
people.  All  eagerly  united  to  resist  this  insurrectionary 
movement  which  threatened  the  dignity  and  the  unity  of  the 
kingdom.     At  the  same  time  the  Liberal  cause  was  strength- 


228  THE   TEUTONIC   NATIONS  book  i 


ened  by  tlie  independent  attitude  of  tlie  Schleswig-Holstein 
party.  For  the  Liberals  realized  that  the  people  of  Schleswig- 
Holstein  had  been  estranged  by  the  despotic  and  unprogressive 
character  of  Danish  rule,  and  thus  tliey  were  furnished  with 
additional  reasons  for  advocating  representative  institutions. 
No  longer  was  the  Government  able  to  resist  their  demands. 
A  Constitution  was  drafted,  in  1848,  and,  on  June  5,  1849, 
it  was  approved  by  the  Diet  and  signed  by  the  King.  It  pro- 
vided for  the  creation  of  a  Rigsdag,  or  National  Parliament,  of 
two  Houses, — the  Landsthing  and  the  Folkething, — audit 
bestowed  the  right  of  suffrage  on  all  burghers  of  good  reputa- 
tion thirty  years  old  and  upwards,  excepting  those  who  are 
without  households  and  are  not  employed  in  the  public  service. 
The  members  of  the  Landsthing  are  appointed  for  eight  years 
by  electors  chosen  by  the  people.  Those  of  the  Folkething 
are  elected  directly  by  the  voters  of  the  nation.  The  Rigsdag 
must  be  convened  every  year  for  at  least  two  months,  and  no 
law  is  valid  unless  it  has  been  ratified  by  both  its  Houses  and 
has  received  the  signature  of  the  King.  But,  although  his  sig- 
nature must  be  accompanied  by  that  of  a  responsible  minister, 
the  King  has  the  power  of  absolute  veto,  and  he  can  dissolve 
either  or  both  of  the  Houses  of  the  Rigsdag,  provided  he  con- 
venes a  new  Parliament  within  two  months.  Thus,  it  appears 
that  the  Constitution  of  1849  was  far  from  placing  sovereign 
power  in  the  hands  of  the  people.  It  adopted  the  institutions 
of  democracy,  but  it  kept  the  spirit  of  absolutism.  While  in 
England  the  sovereign  is  powerless  to  thwart  the  people's  will, 
in  Denmark  the  people  are  wellnigh  powerless  before  the 
caprice  of  their  sovereign.  The  triumph  of  constitutionalism 
was  a  very  imperfect  one,  as  subsequent  events  were  to  prove. 
It  was  perhaps  as  complete  as  it  could  have  been  expected  to 
be  after  so  many  years  of  absolute  rule ;  but  it  left  room  for 
conflicts  between  the  Government  and  the  representatives  of 
the  people ;  and  before  many  years  had  passed  such  conflicts 
arose  and  absorbed  all  the  political  energy  of  the  kingdom. 

But  for  a  time  the  Schleswig-Holstein  question  put  all  others 
in  the  shade.  It  did,  indeed,  excite  political  controversies  and 
lead  to  constitutional  changes  and  reforms.  For  Denmark  was 
anxious  to  keep  its  hold  upon  these  two  duchies,  and  was  will- 
ing to  pass  such  legislation  as  would  conciliate  their  peoples. 


PART    III 


DENMAKK  229 


But  though  it  suppressed  the  insurrection  that  broke  out  in 
Schleswig  in  184:8,  it  was  prevented  by  Germany  from  treating 
Schleswig  as  an  integral  part  of  Denmark,  and  giving  it  the 
benefit  of  the  new  Constitution  which  had  just  been  granted. 
So  Schleswig  continued  to  be  uneasy  and  disaffected  under 
Danish  rule;  and  Holstein,  as  a  member  of  the  German  Con- 
federation, owed  Denmark  only  a  partial  allegiance.  More- 
over, King  Frederick  had  no  son,  and  it  was  probable  that  the 
people  of  Schleswig-Holstein  would  dispute  the  right  of  his 
successor  to  count  them  among  his  subjects.  So  menacing, 
indeed,  did  this  question  of  succession  appear,  that  the  great 
powers  gave  it  their  attention.  Prince  Frederick  of  Hesse, 
nephew  of  Christian  VIII.,  seemed  to  be  the  rightful  heir  to 
the  throne;  but  he  resigned  his  rights  in  favor  of  his  sister, 
Princess  Louise;  and  her  husband,  Prince  Christian  of  Gliicks- 
burg,  was  recognized  as  Frederick's  successor  by  the  powers 
in  1852.  The  question  of  succession  being  thus  peacefully 
settled,  it  would  have  been  wise  for  Denmark  to  keep  the 
whole  Schleswig-Holstein  matter  as  quiet  as  possible.  Yet 
it  was  difficult  to  let  it  alone.  King  Frederick  was  anxious 
to  make  Schleswig  a  corporate  part  of  his  kingdom;  and  there 
were  Danish  statesmen  who,  in  spite  of  German  interference, 
were  determined  that  Schleswig-Holstein  should  be  brought 
under  the  provisions  of  a  joint  Constitution,  instead  of  having 
a  distinct  and  peculiar  status  in  the  monarcliy.  So,  partly  to 
this  end,  the  Constitution  of  1849  was  considerably  modified 
in  1855  and  again  in  1863.  But,  in  the  end,  all  efforts  to  pre- 
serve these  troublesome  duchies  proved  unavailing.  How, 
upon  the  death  of  Frederick  VII.,  they  disputed  the  authority 
of  liis  successor  and  were  wrested  from  Denmark  by  Austria 
and  Prussia  has  been  elsewhere  related.^ 

But,  in  spite  of  the  absorbing  nature  of  the  Schleswig-Hol- 
stein difficulty,  the  reign  of  Frederick  was  marked  by  a  num- 
ber of  progressive  measures.  At  one  time  the  King  surrounded 
himself  with  narrow  advisers,  and  in  their  efforts  to  carry 
their  political  ends  tlie  Government  seriously  interfered  with 
the  liberty  of  the  press.  But  in  time  these  restrictions  were 
entirely  removed,  and  other  inqjortant  reforms  were  brought 
about.     The  administration  of  justice  was  greatly  improved; 

1  See  p.  204. 


230  THE   TEUTONIC    NATIONS  book  i 

education  was  made  more  general,  and  its  standards  were  raised ; 
civil  marriages  were  recognized  as  legal;  and  the  Jews  were  put 
on  an  equality  with  others  before  the  law.  Moreover,  tlie 
material  interests  of  the  country  received  due  attention,  for 
trade  and  agriculture  were  encouraged,  and  railroads  and  tele- 
graph lines  were  greatly  extended.  In  spite  of  the  difficulties 
over  Schleswig-Holstein,  tlie  reign  of  Frederick  VII.  was  a 
prosperous  one;  and  this  monarch,  who  endeavored  to  abide  by 
the  spirit  of  the  Constitution,  was  sincerely  regretted  by  his 
people  when  he  died. 

His  successor  assumed  the  throne  as  Christian  IX.  on  Novem- 
ber 15,  1863.  He  was  a  virtuous  and  estimable  man;  and  his 
children  were  reared  in  such  admirable  simplicity  and  pos- 
sessed such  attractive  personal  qualities  that  some  of  them 
obtained  positions  of  distinction  in  the  courts  of  Europe.  The 
Princess  Alexandra  became  the  Princess  of  Wales  in  1863; 
Prince  Wilhelm  was  elected  King  of  the  Hellenes  in  1863; 
and  the  Princess  Maria  Dagmar  was  married  to  the  heir  ap- 
parent of  Russia,  afterward  Alexander  III.,  in  1866,  But  as 
a  constitutional  Sovereign  Christian  IX.  has  made  a  dreary 
failure.  In  1866  he  did,  indeed,  sanction  the  restoration  of 
the  Constitution  of  1849.  Tliat  fundamental  law  was  reestab- 
lished, though  the  method  of  constituting  the  Landsthing  was 
materially  changed.  Twelve  of  its  sixty-six  members  are  now 
nominated  by  the  King  for  life,  and  the  remainder  are  chosen 
indirectly  by  electoral  bodies,  which  are  appointed  by  a  some- 
what complicated  system.  Bat  though  he  restored  tlie  Consti- 
tution, Christian  did  not  interpret  it  to  mean  that  the  people 
were  to  have  a  share  in  the  government.  He  allied  himself 
with  the  Conservatives  and  attempted  to  rule  by  means  of  the 
Landsthing,  which  represents  the  wealth  and  aristocracy  of 
the  kingdom.  The  Folkething,  which  represents  the  common 
people,  he  largely  ignored,  treating  it  as  a  mere  deliberative 
body  without  legislative  power.  But  this  attitude  of  the  King 
and  the  Government  was  bitterly  opposed  by  the  Liberals. 
They  held  that  a  true  system  of  parliamentary  government, 
giving  the  people  through  their  representatives  an  authoritative 
voice  in  the  management  of  affairs,  was  plainly  sanctioned  by 
the  Constitution,  and  that  the  course  of  the  Government  was 
therefore  illegal.     Moreover,  they  were  thoroughly  hostile  to 


PAKT    III 


DENMARK  231 


the  Government's  financial  policy;  for  the  Government  party 
wished  to  devote  a  large  sum  annually  to  maintaining  the  army 
and  navy  and  to  fortifying  Copenhagen,  while  the  Liberals,  or 
the  Parliamentary  party,  deemed  such  expenditure  extravagant 
and  unnecessary.  Naturally  this  condition  of  affairs  occasioned 
great  political  disturbance.  In  1875  Jacob  Estrup  became  the 
head  of  the  Cabinet  and  leader  of  the  Government  party,  and 
this  man  the  King  sustained  in  power,  in  spite  of  hostile 
majorities,  for  nineteen  years.  In  vain  did  the  Liberals  in  the 
Folkething  unite  against  him  every  year  and  defeat  his  budget. 
Tlie  Landsthing  sustained  him,  and  tlie  King  repeatedly  dis- 
solved the  Folkething,  though  only  to  find  that  a  Liberal 
majority  was  each  time  returned  by  the  people.  Nor  did  M. 
Estrup  lack  means  to  carry  out  his  financial  schemes,  even 
though  the  Folkething  refused  to  approve  of  his  budget.  By 
the  aid  of  a  clause  in  the  Constitution  he  raised  and  expended 
money  after  the  Kigsdag  had  dispersed;  and  so  many  of  his 
expenditures  were  reasonable  and  necessary  that  the  Folkething 
could  not  well  refuse  to  sanction  them  when  it  came  together 
again. 

But  this  political  situation  was  too  strained  and  unnatural 
to  last  indefinitely.  In  the  elections  of  1892  the  Liberals 
gained  a  victory  so  sweeping  that  the  Conservative  Ministry 
was  obliged  to  retire  from  office.  First  securing  the  passage 
of  certain  measures  they  desired,  by  promising  the  Liberals  to 
give  the  Government  into  their  hands,  M.  Estrup  and  his  col- 
leagues resigned  their  offices  in  1894.  But  though  the  Liberals 
now  came  into  power,  the  political  currents  did  not  yet  run 
smoothly.  It  was  the  moderate  Liberals  that  had  made  the  tem- 
porary alliance  with  their  old-time  enemies  and  lielped  to  carry 
certain  conservative  measures;  the  Radicals  ha.(l  disapproved 
of  this  course,  and  it  soon  appeared  that  tlie  country  was  with 
them.  For  in  the  elections  of  1895  the  Radicals  made  strik- 
inc:  "ains  and  seated  52  members;  while  28  IModerates  were 
returned,  24  Conservatives,  and  9  Socialists.  The  Ministry  did 
not  retire,  however,  till  May,  1897,  when  it  encountered  strong 
opposition  both  in  the  Landsthing  and  in  the  Folkething,  and 
gave  way  to  a  new  Cabinet,  which  also  represented  the  mod- 
erate Liberals.  But  wlien  the  national  elections  again  oc- 
curred, in  April,  1898,  the  Radicals  made  still  further  gains, 


232  THE   TEUTONIC   NATIONS  book  i 

and  were  now  able  to  command  an  absolute  majority  in  the 
Folketliing.  For  in  the  new  House  63  members  belonged  to 
their  party,  23  to  the  Moderates,  12  to  the  Socialists,  and  15 
only  to  the  Conservatives.  The  Cabinet,  however,  did  not 
resign,  as  it  relied  upon  the  support  of  the  Landsthing,  where 
the  Conservatives  were  still  in  the  majority,  A  new  Lands- 
thing  was  chosen  in  September  of  this  year,  but  the  situation 
remained  unchanged;  for  the  Conservative  members  of  the 
Upper  House  now  numbered  43,  and  the  Opposition  members 
only  23.  The  Ministry,  accordingly,  still  remained  in  power, 
but  it  was  not  easy  to  justify  the  position  which  the  Liberals 
had  now  assumed.  For  many  years  they  had  contended  that 
the  Ministry  should  represent  the  majority  in  the  Lower,  or 
popular,  House;  but  now  that  the  Radicals  commanded  a 
majority  in  the  Folkething,  the  Liberals  still  clung  to  power. 
It  would  therefore  appear  that  Denmark  has  yet  to  learn  the 
full  meaning  of  representative  government. 

Denmark  has  a  population  of  about  2,300,000,  and  an  area 
of  14,775  square  miles.  The  national  revenue  does  not  always 
equal  the  expenditure ;  but  this  fact  does  not  cause  uneasiness, 
for  the  debt  of  the  country  is  not  large  (about  $58,000,000  in 
1898),  and  its  exports,  which  consist  chiefly  of  dairy  products, 
are  increasing.  They  are,  indeed,  of  extraordinary  excellence, 
and  are  such  an  important  source  of  wealth  to  the  country  that 
an  Agricultural  Department,  under  a  responsible  minister, 
was  established  in  1896.  The  State  religion  is  the  Lutheran, 
but  all  others  are  tolerated.  Elementary  education  was  made 
compulsory  as  early  as  1814,  and  ever  since  that  time  has 
received  encouragement  from  the  State.  The  school  age  is 
from  seven  to  fourteen,  and  the  public  schools,  which  are 
maintained  by  communal  rates,  are  free  to  children  whose 
parents  cannot  afford  to  pay. 

Iceland 

Settled  by  the  Vikings  in  874,  Iceland  became  a  republic  in 
the  following  century,  and  for  three  hundred  years  had  a  vig- 
orous and  stirring  life.  By  the  year  1100  its  population  had 
mounted  to  50,000,  and  its  literary  activity  had  been  so  awak- 
ened by  the  introduction  of  Christianity  one  hundred  years 


PART    III 


DP]NMARK  233 


earlier  that  it  produced  the  Eddas  and  Sagas,  and  thus  made 
a  valuable  contribution  to  the  world's  literature.  But  the 
country  became  weakened  by  feuds  and  passed  under  the  con- 
trol of  Norway  in  the  latter  part  of  the  thirteenth  century;  and 
when  Norway  was  united  with  Sweden  and  Denmark  in  1389, 
Iceland,  too,  became  a  dependency  of  the  latter  power. 

Its  independence  gone,  Iceland  lost  all  its  energy  and  vigor, 
and  lapsed  into  a  state  of  apathy  which  has  lasted  almost  to 
the  present  day.  Yet  it  has  maintained  its  own  separate  life 
and  its  own  political  institutions.  In  their  secluded  island 
home  its  people  have  kept  alive  the  manners,  customs,  and 
beliefs  of  an  earlier  day,  and  have  been  little  affected  by  the 
eager,  strenuous,  and  restless  life  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
While  kingdoms  have  waxed  and  waned,  wars  have  raged  and 
socialistic  clamors  have  rent  the  air,  these  peaceable  islanders 
have  pastured  their  flocks  and  herds,  tilled  their  lands,  and 
sailed  their  fishing-boats  over  smooth  and  stormy  seas.  Con- 
tented with  little,  and  obtaining  that  little  without  effort,  they 
have  avoided  the  extremes  of  wealth  and  poverty  ^  and  have 
not  needed  to  ponder  over  the  profound  social  jDroblems  of  the 
day.  Even  the  question  of  education,  which  has  caused  so 
miich  discussion  in  other  countries,  settled  itself  here  without 
difficulty;  for  before  there  was  a  public  school  system  the 
children  were  taught  in  their  own  homes,  and  illiteracy  was 
almost  unknown  in  the  island.  But  of  late  years  tlie  public 
schools  have  received  a  notable  development. 

But  in  spite  of  its  remoteness  and  the  tractable  character  of 
its  population,  Iceland  has  experienced  more  than  one  political 
change  during  the  nineteenth  century.  In  1800  the  old 
Althing,  that  famous  law-making  body  which  had  existed  since 
930,  came  to  an  end,  and  forty-five  years  passed  before  a  suc- 
cessor to  it  was  assembled  through  the  sanction  of  the  King  of 
Denmark.  When  a  new  Althing  was  finally  appointed,  it 
began  to  consider  the  character  of  the  tie  that  bound  Iceland 
to  Denmark,  and  expressed  a  desire  that  the  relations  between 
the  two  countries  should  be  clearly  defined.  This  question, 
however,  Frederick  VII.,  who  came  to  the  throne  in  1848, 
was  inclined  to  evade,  for  he  referred  it  to  a  constitutive 
assembly,  which  was  to  meet  in  1851.     But  tlie  constitutive 

1  See  article  on  Iceland  by  James  Bryce,  Littell's  Living  Age,  121 :  750. 


234  THE   TEUTONIC   NATIONS  book  i 

assembly  never  met.  The  distracting  Sclileswig-Holstein  ques- 
tion absorbed  all  of  Denmark's  energies  for  a  time;  and  after 
it  was  settled  provisionally,  in  1850,  the  Danish  Government, 
alarmed  by  these  recent  manifestations  of  discontent,  grew 
averse  to  making  concessions  or  granting  privileges  to  any  of 
its  subjects. 

So  the  people  of  Iceland  could  not  obtain  from  Denmark  the 
chartered  rights  they  desired,  but  none  the  less  they  continued 
to  presstheir  claims.  Their  country  had  always  had  its  own 
laws ;  and  every  King  of  Denmark,  on  coming  to  the  throne, 
had  guaranteed  to  Iceland  that  its  ancient  privileges  should  be 
respected.  Hence,  the  people  of  Iceland  were  inclined  to 
regard  the  suzerainty  of  Denmark  as  nominal  rather  than  real, 
and  year  after  year,  through  the  Althing,  they  preferred  a 
demand  for  home  rule.  The  leader  in  the  movement  was  Jon 
Sigurdson,  who  showed  such  tact  and  moderation  that  the  rela- 
tions between  Denmark  and  Iceland  were  not  badly  strained. 
For  nearly  a  qiiarter  of  a  century  the  yearly  request  for  home 
rule  was  made  without  result,  as  Frederick  VII.  would  never 
accede  to  it,  and  Christian  IX.,  who  ascended  the  throne  in 
1863,  resisted  it  for  many  years.  But  when  the  people  of  Ice- 
land were  celebrating  the  one  thousandth  anniversaiy  of  the 
colonization  of  their  island  by  the  Norsemen,  Denmark  granted 
them  autonomy,  and  the  King  visited  the  country  in  person  in 
honor  of  the  occasion.  By  the  new  Constitution  which  was 
then  obtained,  the  island  is  governed  by  the  King  of  Denmark 
through  a  member  of  his  Cabinet,  who  is  responsible  to  the 
Althing,  and  through  a  Governor  whom  the  King  appoints  and 
who  is  the  chief  executive  officer.  The  legislative  power  is 
vested  entirely  in  the  Althing,  which  consists  of  two  Houses. 
The  Lower  House  contains  twenty-four  members  elected  by  a 
suffrage  which  is  nearly  universal;  the  Upper  is  composed  of 
six  elected  members  and  six  who  are  nominated  by  the  King. 
But  this  Constitution,  though  containing  some  excellent  pro- 
visions, did  not  satisfy  the  people  of  Iceland;  for  they  found 
it  inadequate  to  their  political  needs.  In  many  respects  it 
reflected  the  King's  aversion  to  popular  government,  and,  con- 
sequently, it  failed  to  inaugurate  an  era  of  progress  and  pros- 
perity. True,  there  have  been  various  attempts  to  improve 
the  social  and  political  condition  of  tlie  island.     Education  has 


PART    III 


DENMARK  235 


been  encouraged,  economics  have  received  due  attention,  and 
women  have  been  so  far  enfranchised  that  they  now  have  a  voice 
in  the  election  of  the  parish  clergy.  None  the  less  the  people 
of  the  island  have  not  found  their  circumstances  improving. 
On  the  contrary,  the  conditions  of  living  have  grown  harder 
rather  than  more  favorable,  and  thousands  have  in  recent  years 
abandoned  the  island,  although  it  could  support  in  comfort  a 
much  larger  population  than  it  contains.  Even  the  bank, 
which  was  established  in  1880,  proved  a  hindrance  to  com- 
mercial expansion  and  prosperity;  for,  instead  of  discharging 
the  wonted  functions  of  a  bank  and  promoting  financial  enter- 
prise, it  has  only  enriched  itself  by  exacting  extortionate  inter- 
est from  those  who  were  forced  by  necessity  to  borrow.^ 

Altogether  the  Icelandic  people  have  good  reason  to  be  rest- 
less under  Denmark's  rule  and  to  crave  entire  independence. 
And  there  is,  indeed,  no  good  reason  why,  with  its  isolated 
position  and  its  peculiar  institutions  and  mode  of  life,  it  should 
not  enjoy  absolute  and  untroubled  freedom. 

Iceland  contains  a  little  less  than  forty  thousand  square 
miles,  and  has  a  population  of  about  seventy  thousand. 

^  Quarterly  Review,  179  :  58. 


CHAPTER  IV 

SWEDEN   AND    NORWAY 

The  Scandinavian  Peninsula,  unlike  the  Iberian,  contains  a 
natural  obstacle  to  the  national  unity  of  its  people.  For  its 
mountain  system,  though  it  presents  few  clearly  defined  chains, 
has  yet  served  to  make  intercourse  difficult  and  to  keep  apart 
those  who  might  have  mingled  freely  in  a  more  level  country. 
Though  varying  greatly  in  height,  the  mountains  of  Norway 
and  Sweden  sometimes  rise  above  eight  thousand  feet  and, 
with  their  dense,  wide-reaching  forests,  divide  the  peninsula 
in  twain.  Along  the  Atlantic  stretches  a  wild  and  rugged 
tract  of  country ;  while  the  region  that  faces  the  Baltic  is  not 
mountainous,  but  consists  largely  of  low  hills  covered  with 
the  fir  tree  and  the  pine. 

It  is  not  strange,  then,  that  from  ancient  times  there  have 
been  two  kingdoms  in  the  Scandinavian  Peninsula.  In  the 
earliest  period  of  which  we  have  authentic  knowledge  the 
peoples  of  the  peninsula  seem  to  have  been  of  Teutonic  stock, 
but  in  spite  of  this  they  did  not  blend  and  make  one  nation. 
Through  the  earlier  Christian  centuries  Norway  appears  to 
have  been  divided  into  petty  kingdoms,  which  were  not  united 
until  toward  the  end  of  the  ninth  century.  But  at  that  time 
it  became  one  kingdom  under  Harold  Fairhair.  About  a  hun- 
dred years  later  Sweden,  whose  history  before  this  time  is 
somewhat  legendary,  found  a  powerful  ruler  in  Eric,  and  is 
said  by  one  chronicler  to  have  gained  temporary  control  over 
Denmark.  Thus  the  two  kingdoms  make  their  appearance 
upon  the  field  of  authentic  history  strong,  separate,  and  inde- 
pendent. 

And  separate  they  remained  for  the  most  part  through  the 
centuries  that  followed.  In  1387-89  they  both  passed  under 
the  sway  of  that  remarkable  woman,  Margaret  of  Denmark,  and 

236 


PART  III  SWEDEN   AND    NORWAY  237 

thus  the  three  kingdoms  were  united.  From  this  union,  which 
meant  that  the  whole  Scandinavian  Peninsula  was  subject  to 
the  tyrannous  rule  of  Denmark,  Sweden  was  released  by  Gus- 
tavus  Vasa  in  1523.  And  from  that  year  until  1814  Sweden 
and  Norway  again  pursued  their  separate  destinies. 

Sweden 

Released  from  the  Danish  tyranny,  Sweden  had  for  a  time 
a  great  and  splendid  career.  The  genius  of  Gustavus  Adolphus 
rendered  her  one  of  the  strongest  military  powers  of  Europe, 
and  enabled  her  to  play  a  decisive  part  in  the  politics  of  tlie 
period.  This  position  she  kept  through  the  reign  of  the  brill- 
iant but  erratic  monarch,  Charles  XII. ;  but  after  his  death, 
in  1718,  her  decline  was  rapid.  She  suffered  from  the  conse- 
quences of  Charles's  wars,  during  which  the  nobles  had  obtained 
control  of  the  Diet  and  taken  to  themselves  the  prerogatives 
of  the  crown. 

Moreover,  removed  as  she  was  from  Central  Europe,  Sweden 
could  not  keep  her  prestige  after  Russia  and  Prussia  became 
great  and  prominent.  So  for  fifty  years  after  the  death  of 
Charles  XII.  Sweden  remained  feeble  and  inert.  Her  states- 
men were  weak  and  incompetent,  her  foreign  territory  was 
wrested  from  her,  lier  selfish  aristocracy  only  wasted  her 
strength.  But  their  rule  was  broken  by  Gustavus  III.,  who 
came  to  the  throne  in  1771.  A  man  of  ability  and  decision, 
he  gained  the  support  of  the  military  and  arrested  the  members 
of  the  Council  of  State.  Then,  summoning  the  Diet,  he  in- 
duced it  to  adopt  a  new  Constitution,  which  vested  the  execu- 
tive power  solely  in  the  King.  The  supremacy  of  the 
aristocracy  being  thus  destroyed,  Gustavus  endeavored  to 
rouse  the  kingdom  from  its  lethargy.  He  encouraged  trade 
and  agriculture,  fostered  art  and  learning,  and  strengthened 
the  army  and  navy  with  a  view  to  winning  back  Sweden's 
military  renown.  So  entirely  was  he  misled  by  this  ambition, 
that  he  entered  upon  a  disastrous  war  with  Russia,  from  which 
he  was  obliged  to  withdraw  without  having  accomplished  any- 
thing besides  proving  the  loyalty  of  his  subjects. 

But,  reformer  though  he  was,  Gustavus  was  no  friend  of 
those  democratic  principles  which  were  spreading  over  Europe. 


238  THE    TEUTONIC   NATIONS  book  i 

Euling  his  own  kingdom  like  an  autocrat,  he  viewed  all  in- 
fringement upon  the  royal  prerogative  with  concern.  For 
Louis  XVI.  of  France  he  felt  profound  sympathy,  and  could 
he  have  carried  the  Diet  with  him  he  would  have  formed  an 
alliance  to  reseat  that  unfortunate  monarch  upon  his  throne. 
But  the  worst  excesses  of  the  French  Eevolution  he  did  not 
live  to  see.  He  was  assassinated  by  one  of  his  nobles  in  1792, 
before  Louis  was  executed  and  the  Reign  of  Terror  had  begun. 

His  son,  Gustavus  IV.,  who  came  to  his  majority  in  1796, 
had  his  father's  independence  of  character  without  his  father's 
greatness.  Hence,  Sweden  was  in  a  most  unfortunate  con- 
dition at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Her  feudal 
Constitution  granted  but  few  rights  to  the  people.  Her  nobles 
were  sullenly  bent  upon  regaining  their  lost  supremacy.  Upon 
her  throne  sat  a  headstrong  and  self-willed  monarch,  whose 
folly  made  the  royal  prerogative  a  menace  to  the  kingdom. 
For  Gustavus  refused  to  hold  aloof  from  the  great  struggle  that 
was  convulsing  Europe.  By  his  meddlesome  policy  he  em- 
broiled Sweden  first  with  France  and  finally  with  Russia  and 
Denmark;  lost  the  Pomeranian  stronghold,  Stralsuud,  and  the 
island  of  Rugen;  and  brought  the  kingdom  into  a  position  of 
extreme  humiliation.  And,  finally,  when  Finland  was  overrun 
by  Russian  troops  and  seemed  likely  to  pass  out  of  Sweden's 
possession,  the  feeling  against  him  became  so  strong  that  he 
was  deposed,  in  1809,  and  his  posterity  was  debarred  from  the 
throne. 

The  Duke  of  Sodermanland  (Siidermania),  an  nncle  of  Gus- 
tavus IV.,  had  been  regent  during  the  latter 's  minority. 
Coming  now  to  the  throne  as  Charles  XIII.,  he  tried  to  bring 
the  affairs  of  the  distracted  country  into  order.  But  his  success 
was  not  signal.  Dull  and  obstinate  though  Gustavus  was,  he 
was  yet  simple  in  his  habits,  conscientious,  and  high-minded; 
his  successor  was  a  selfish  old  man,  governed  by  favorites,  and 
suspected  of  being  privy  to  more  than  one  unprincipled  in- 
trigue.^ During  his  short  reign  he  was  little  more  than  a 
figurehead,  and  the  most  important  things  that  he  did  were 
done  rather  through  the  force  of  circumstances  than  through 
his  own  initiative.     He  ceded  Finland  to  Russia,  as  it  was 

1  His  character  is  described  in  Laing's  "  A  Tour  in  Sweden  in  1838,"  pp. 
382-389. 


PART  III  SWEDEN   AND    NORWAY  239 

impossible  to  save  it  to  Sweden;  and  though  the  Swedes  have 
always  grieved  sorely  over  this  lost  territory,^  it  may  be  ques- 
tioned whether  they  have  not  been  better  off  without  Finland 
than  with  it.^  Peace  was  also  made  with  France  and  Denmark, 
and  some  important  changes  were  made  in  the  Constitution. 

The  Swedes  were  not  inclined  to  open  rebellion,  like  many 
of  the  continental  races;  none  the  less  they  were  eager  to 
obtain  a  fuller  share  in  the  government.  Even  here,  where 
deference  to  authority  was  as  great  as  it  was  in  England,  the 
voices  of  the  French  Revolution  raised  an  echo.  Ever  since 
1435,  when  the  patriot  Engelbrekt  summoned  a  Riksdag,  the 
four  estates  of  the  nobles,  the  clergy,  the  burghers,  and  the 
peasants,  had  been  consulted  in  the  management  of  affairs; 
but  it  was  the  king  and  the  noble  who  really  ruled.  This 
condition  of  things  the  burghers  and  peasants  wished  to  bring 
to  an  end.  For  the  peace  of  the  kingdom  they  wished  it;  for, 
so  long  as  they  were  set  aside,  the  kings  and  the  aristocracy 
were  sure  to  contend  for  the  supremacy.  So  they  asked  that 
they  might  be  more  fully  represented  in  the  Diet,  and  that 
the  Diet  should  have  those  privileges  that  properly  belong  to 
a  legislative  body,  including  control  over  taxation.  And  these 
constitutional  reforms  were  granted  by  Charles  XIIT. 

Quite  as  important  as  these  changes  was  the  union  of  Nor- 
way with  Sweden  under  the  same  sovereign.  But  as  this  event 
will  be  more  fully  treated  in  the  sketch  of  Norway,  it  is  only 
mentioned  here.  It  was  in  1814  that  Charles  XIII.  was  pro- 
claimed King  of  Sweden  and  Norway.  Four  years  later  he 
died  without  issue,  and  the  throne  passed  from  the  House  of 
Holstein-Gottorp,  which  had  ruled  over  Sweden  since  1751, 
and  at  the  same  time  from  the  descendants  of  Gustavus  Vasa. 

But  this  contingency  had  been  duly  provided  for.     Soon 

1  For  an  incident  that  illustrates  this  feeling,  see  Mrs.  Baker's  "Pictures 
of  Swedish  Life,"  p.  ;«)2. 

2  "  Finland  stood,  with  regard  to  Sweden,  in  the  same  relation  as  Nor- 
mandy did  of  old  to  England.  Separated  by  the  sea,  inhabited  hv  a  Sclavonio 
race,  more  allied  in  language  and  manners  to  the  Russian  than  to  th  ;  Swetlish 
people,  and  extending  to  the  very  gates,  it  may  be  said,  of  the  capital  of  a 
country  of  forty  nullions  of  inhabitants,  could  such  a  province  be  held  by  a 
distant  nation  of  three  millions?  Was  there  any  real  advantage  from  a  pos- 
session which  kept  the  nation  under  arms,  even  in  profound  peace,  to  main- 
tain it,  requiring  an  unremitting  military  exertion  incompatible  with  her 
industry  and  prosperity ?" —Laing's  "  A  Tour  in  Sweden  in  1838,"  p.  386. 


240  THI<:   TEUTONIC    NATIONS  book  i 

after  Charles  XIII.  came  to  the  throne  he  was  temporarily 
stricken  with  apoplexy;  and  this  indication  of  physical  feeble- 
ness made  it  necessary  to  look  for  an  heir  to  the  throne.  The 
choice  fell  upon  the  Kegent  of  Norway,  Christian  Augustus, 
who  was  connected  with  the  reigning  house  of  Denmark.  This 
excellent  prince  came  to  Sweden  and  was  warmly  welcomed  by 
its  people;  but  in  the  spring  of  1810  he  was  killed  by  a  fall 
from  his  horse  while  attending  a  military  review.  A  successor 
was  found  in  Jean  Bernadotte,  one  of  Napoleon's  most  dis- 
tinguished marshals.  Consenting  to  become  the  heir  apparent, 
Bernadotte  went  to  Sweden  with  his  family  in  1810  and  at  once 
began  to  play  an  important  part  in  the  administration  of  affairs. 
Finding  Charles  XIII.  weak  and  undecided,  he  shaped  his  own 
policy  and  carried  out  his  own  plan  of  action.  In  making 
peace  with  France,  Charles  had  practically  delivered  Sweden 
into  the  hands  of  the  Emperor.  From  this  condition  Berna- 
dotte freed  her  by  joining  the  alliance  which  finally  succeeded 
in  securing  Napoleon's  overthrow.  In  1818  Charles  XIII. 
died,  and  Bernadotte,  who  took  the  title  of  Charles  XIV.,  was 
elevated  to  the  throne.  The  bestowal  of  royalty  upon  a  man 
who  is  not  of  royal  birth  is  always  an  experiment,  for  a  king 
so  created  is  sure  to  encounter  prejudice  and  unreasoning  criti- 
cism; but  in  this  case  the  experiment  was  a  successful  one. 
Charles  XIV.  never  made  himself  thoroughly  popular  with  his 
subjects,  but  he  aroused  no  active  opposition,  and  he  ruled  the 
country  firmly  and  efHciently  for  nearly  thirty  years.  During 
his  reign  Sweden  made  great  material  progress,  for  he  pro- 
moted the  welfare  of  his  subjects  in  all  ways  that  were  con- 
sistent with  his  conceptions  of  the  royal  prerogative.  He 
encouraged  the  construction  of  railways  and  canals,  brought 
new  tracts  under  cultivation,  established  factories,  and  founded 
industrial  and  technical  schools.  But,  fond  of  the  arbitrary 
exercise  of  power,  he  did  not  give  his  support  to  the  cause  of 
constitutional  reform.  Already  the  nation  had  become  dis- 
satisfied with  the  changes  granted  by  Charles  XIII.  The 
leaders  of  public  opinion  demanded  that  the  Government 
should  be  made  more  directly  responsible  to  the  people;  and  in 
1840  the  Diet  seriously  considered  the  feasibility  of  this  con- 
stitutional change.  Probaldy  the  change  would  have  been 
effected  if  the  King  had  given  it  his  hearty  support.     But 


PART  HI  SWEDEN   AND   NORWAY  241 

failing  to  find  sufficiently  influential  champions,  the  reform 
was  not  brought  about. 

Nor  did  it  meet  with  any  better  success  in  the  reign  of  Oscar 
I.,  who  succeeded  his  father  in  1844.  The  new  King  was  a 
progressive  and  liberal-minded  ruler,  and  under  him  the  coun- 
try's material  interests  were  duly  cared  for.  Imports  and 
exports  were  tripled,  telegraph  lines  were  extended,  railroads 
were  built  by  the  State,  and  the  affairs  of  the  kingdom  were 
managed  Avith  greater  economy  and  system.  The  laws,  too, 
were  revised  and  much  improved,  the  penal  code  being  miti- 
gated, and  sisters  being  allowed  to  inherit  on  equal  terms  with 
their  brothers.  Yet,  in  spite  of  material  progress  and  liberal 
legislation,  the  Constitution  remained  unchanged.  In  the  early 
years  of  the  reign  the  scheme  of  reform  that  was  considered  in 
1840  was  again  brought  forward;  but,  though  acceptable  to  the 
burghers  and  the  peasants,  it  was  thrown  out  by  the  other  two 
estates.  Later  on  anotlier  scheme  was  prepared,  largely  as  a 
result  of  the  revolution  in  France  in  1848.  But  now  it  was 
the  peasants  that  deserted  the  cause  of  reform.  Their  repre- 
sentatives in  the  Diet  made  common  cause  with  those  of  the 
nobles  and  the  clergy,  and  again  it  proved  impossible  to  effect 
the  desired  constitutional  cliaiige. 

But  in  1859  there  came  to  the  throne  a  King  who  gave 
effectual  support  to  the  cause  of  constitutional  reform. 
Charles  XV.  possessed  his  father's  liberal  sympathies,  together 
with  an  extremely  winning  and  gracious  personality.  Admir- 
ably maintaining  the  royal  dignity,  he  yet  made  himself  loved 
in  all  the  households  in  the  land  by  his  simple  and  genial 
ways.  So  devotedly  were  his  people  attached  to  liim  that  they 
became  enthusiastic  supporters  of  his  line,  and  the  descendants 
of  Gustavus  Vasa  seemed  to  lose  all  prospects  of  becoming 
established  on  the  throne.  Under  such  a  king  it  became  easy 
to  effect  those  changes  in  the  governmental  system  which  had 
been  so  long  desired.  In  18GG  it  was  decided  that  the  Diet, 
or  Parliament,  should  consist  of  a  First  Chamber,  whose  mem- 
bers are  indirectly  elected  for  nine  years,  and  a  Second  Cham- 
ber, whose  members  are  cliosen  for  three  years  by  natives  of 
Sweden  who  are  twenty-one  years  okl  and  who  possess  a  small 
property  qualification.  The  Diet  has  the  sole  riglit  of  impos- 
ing taxes,  and  it  is  understood  that  if  the  Cabinet  and  the  Diet 

R 


242  THE   TEUTONIC   NATIONS  book  r 

are  at  variance,  the  members  of  the  Cabinet  shall  resign.  The 
King  can  at  will  dissolve  the  Diet  and  order  a  new  election. 
He  has  also  the  right  to  conclude  foreign  treaties,  to  preside 
in  the  Supreme  Court  of  Justice,  and  to  declare  war  and 
make  peace  after  consulting  with  the  Cabinet  or  Council  of 
State. 

This  Constitution,  it  will  be  seen,  still  retains  some  trace 
of  feudalism,  in  that  it  vests  extraordinary  powers  in  the  King. 
But  it  proved  liberal  enough  to  satisfy  the  Swedish  people; 
for  since  its  adoption  there  have  been  no  further  demands  for 
constitutional  reforms.  Under  its  provisions  Charles  XV. 
ruled  over  a  happy  and  united  people  till  his  death,  which 
occurred  in  1872;  and  his  son,  Oscar  II.,  who  succeeded  him, 
has  had  an  equally  harmonious  and  prosperous  reign  so  far  as 
his  Swedish  subjects  have  been  concerned.  The  political  dis- 
turbances which  have  given  him  much  trouble  and  anxiety 
have  arisen  from  the  restlessness  of  Norway  under  the  Union 
of  1814. 

Sweden  ranks  among  the  largest  European  countries,  her 
area  being  172,000  square  miles,  while  that  of  Germany  is 
208,000  and  that  of  France  204,000.  But  her  population  is 
only  5,000,000,  and  not  for  a  long  time  is  the  country  likely 
to  be  densely  settled.  Nearly  half  of  it  is  covered  with  for- 
ests, and  some  of  its  fertile  plains  are  too  far  north  to  be  suc- 
cessfully tilled.  A  considerable  portion  of  the  soil,  moreover, 
is  not  richly  productive.  Agriculture,  dairying,  timber- 
raising,  and  mining  are  the  chief  occupations  of  the  people. 
Financially,  the  kingdom  is  prosperous,  its  debt  being  but 
f!80,000,000.  It  supports  a  standing  army  of  about  30,000 
men  and  has  an  inconsiderable  navy. 

Nonvay 

No  Gustavus  Vasa  appeared  in  Norway  to  deliver  her  from 
the  rule  of  Denmark;  and,  with  the  exception  of  a  brief  period 
of  independence  in  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century,  she 
remained  a  subject  province  for  over  four  hundred  years. 
But  the  spirit  of  nationality  did  not  die  out  during  that  long 
term  of  subjection.  In  1814  Norway  found  an  opportunity  to 
assert  her  independence,  and  of  this  opportunity  she  eagerly 


PART  III  SWEDEN   AND   NORWAY  243 

availed  herself.  Frederick  VI.  was  King  of  Denmark  at  this 
time,  and  by  aiding  France  he  antagonized  Kussia  and  Great 
Britain,  while  Bernadotte  made  common  cause  with  these 
powers  against  Napoleon  (p.  240)  and  secured  their  good-will. 
For  a  time,  indeed,  Bernadotte's  sincerity  was  distrusted  by 
the  allies,  for  he  seemed  inclined  to  let  them  do  all  the  fight- 
ing and  to  consult  merely  for  his  own  advantage.  But  after 
the  battle  of  Leipsic  in  1813,  he  took  an  active  part  in  the 
campaigns  against  France,  and  in  the  Treaty  of  Kiel  he  reaped 
the  reward  of  his  somewhat  tardy  services.  For  by  the  terms 
of  this  treaty,  which  was  made  between  Great  Britain,  Sweden, 
and  Denmark  on  January  14,  1814,  Norway  was  taken  from 
Denmark  and  given  to  Sweden. 

But  Norway  objected  stoutly  to  this  change  of  masters. 
She  was  glad  to  be  delivered  from  Denmark,  but  she  had  no 
mind  to  become  a  part  of  the  Swedish  kingdom.  As  Fred- 
erick VII.,  the  hereditary  Sovereign,  had  released  the  country 
from  its  allegiance,  the  people  claimed  the  right  to  choose 
their  own  king.  A  portion  of  them,  indeed,  would  have 
chosen  Charles  XIII.  of  Sweden,  believing  that  a  union  with 
the  neighboring  kingdom  was  desirable,  as  it  would  j^rotect 
Norway  from  the  invasion  of  ambitious  foreign  powers  that 
coveted  her  territory.  But  the  majority  of  the  people  were 
in  favor  of  entire  independence;  and  this  sentiment  was  the 
prevailing  one  in  the  Diet  which  met  at  Eidsvold  in  the  spring 
of  1814.  The  members  of  the  Diet,  after  full  deliberation, 
adopted  a  Constitution  which  was  extremely  liberal  in  charac- 
ter, declared  Norway  to  be  free  and  independent,  and  bestowed 
the  crown  upon  Prince  Christian  Frederick,  who  had  been 
ruling  the  country  as  the  Viceroy  of  Denmark. 

This  bold  and  resolute  stand  was  highly  patriotic,  but  natu- 
rally it  brought  on  a  conflict  with  Sweden.  For  a  short  time 
Bernadotte's  hands  were  tied  by  the  struggle  with  Napoleon ; 
but  before  the  summer  of  1814  was  over  he  appeared  in  Nor- 
way at  the  head  of  a  Swedish  army.  But  he  encountered  a 
more  obstinate  resistance  than  he  had  anticipated.  Prince 
Frederick  proved,  indeed,  a  weak  and  irresolute  leader,  as  he 
feared  to  give  battle  to  tlie  invading  forces;  but  tlie  Norwe- 
gians themselves  were  full  of  spirit,  and  they  defeated  the 
Swedes  in  two  engagements,  which,  though  by  no  means  deci- 


244  THE   TEUTONIC   NATIONS  book  i 

sive,  at  least  showed  the  stubborn  temper  of  the  country.  It 
was  apparent  that  Norway  coukl  not  be  subdued  without  a  long 
and  bitter  conflict.  But  such  a  conflict  the  Swedes,  as  well 
as  the  Norwegians,  wished  to  avoid.  Accordingly,  hostilities 
were  suspended  in  order  that  an  amicable  agreement  between 
the  two  kingdoms  might  be  arranged.  And  as  both  peoples 
were  ready  to  make  concessions,  the  conditions  of  a  permanent 
union  were  settled  without  serious  difficulty.  On  November  4, 
1814,  Charles  XIII.  was  proclaimed  King  of  Norway  by  the 
national  Storthing,  or  Diet,  on  condition  that  he  recognized 
Norway  as  a  separate  and  independent  kingdom,  entitled  to  its 
own  Constitution.  This  condition  was  accepted  for  Charles  by 
Bernadotte,  and  the  two  kingdoms  were  thus  united  under  one 
crown.  In  the  following  year  their  position  with  respect  to 
each  other  was  more  clearly  defined  by  the  Eigsakt,  or  Act  of 
Union,  which  was  adopted  by  both  countries.  By  the  terms 
of  the  Rigsakt  the  absolute  independence  of  each  country  is 
fully  established.^ 

This  adjustment  of  the  relations  between  the  two  kingdoms 
would  seem  to  have  been  a  natural  and  fitting  one.  Adjacent 
as  they  are,  occupying  the  whole  of  the  same  peninsula,  and 
inhabited  by  kindred  peoples,  Norway  and  Sweden  have  much 
to  draw  them  together.  Yet  it  must  be  remembered  that  the 
two  countries  are  unlike  in  their  natural  features  (p.  236),  and 
have  developed  dissimilar  traits  in  their  respective  peoples. 
Norway  was  the  Viking's  home.  Looking  out  upon  the  bois- 
terous Atlantic,  she  has  nurtured  a  race  of  sea-rovers  and 
hardy,  fearless  men.  Her  wild  shores,  her  rugged  mountains, 
and  her  bracing  air  have  fostered  her  independence  and  the 
rude,  manly  virtues.  The  Norwegians  have  never  been 
respecters  of  persons.  In  the  Middle  Ages,  when  their  gov- 
ernment was  in  form  an  absolute  monarchy,  they  yet  main- 
tained democratic  institutions;  and  though  there  grew  up  an 
aristocracy,  it  became  merged  in  the  peasantry  as  the  royal 
power  declined  and  the  country  became  a  dependency  of 
Denmark.^ 

i"The  Norwegian-Swedish  Conflict,"  by  H.  L.  Braekstad,  in  the  Fort- 
nujhthj  Rpviexo  for  January,  1898. 

2  Boyesen's  "  Story  of  Norway,"  p.  448.  Keary's  "  Norway  and  the  Nor- 
wegians," p.  300. 


PART  III  SWEDEN   AND   NORWAY  245 

But  liowever  sturdy  and  democratic  was  the  spirit  which 
Norway  bred  among  her  people,  her  contributions  to  progress 
and  civilization  were  not  great.  Separated  from  continental 
Europe  and  deprived  of  her  independence,  Norway  exercised 
no  influence  upon  the  course  of  European  politics.  She  pro- 
duced no  kings  like  Gustavus  Adolphus  and  Charles  XII. 
Her  armies  did  not  wrest  victory  from  the  strongest  nations. 
Her  statesmen  did  not  alter  the  current  of  events.  Her 
scholars  did  not  guide  and  quicken  human  tliought.  Norway 
was  simply  a  land  of  plain  living,  honest  thinking,  and  cou- 
rageous deeds. 

But  Sweden  had  filled  a  much  larger  place  in  European  his- 
tory. She  was  proud,  and  justly  proud,  of  her  heroic  achieve- 
ments, and  she  could  not  easily  recognize  in  Norway  a  kingdom 
of  equal  power  and  greatness  to  her  own.  Among  her  kings 
were  some  of  the  world's  greatest  men.  Her  nobility  was 
ancient,  polished,  and  cultivated.  Her  scholars  and  men  of 
science  numbered  men  of  world-wide  reputation.  Her  schools 
and  universities  were  of  first-rate  excellence,  and  her  history 
had  been  both  great  and  brilliant.  More  tlian  once  Sweden 
had  fought  with  Kussia  single-handed,  and  it  was  her  invinci- 
ble army  that  turned  the  course  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War  and 
saved  the  Protestant  cause  in  Germany.  Altogether,  Sweden 
had  good  cause  to  consider  herself  the  leading  and  more  impor- 
tant member  of  the  union  formed  with  Norway  under  Charles 
XIII.  Her  history  was  much  greater,  her  population  twice 
as  numerous,  and  her  civilization  riper  and  more  complete. 

But  this  superiority  Norway  has  never  been  willing  to  admit. 
Having  entered  into  the  Union  on  terms  of  entire  equality, 
she  has  always  resented  the  leadership  which  Sweden  has  been 
inclined  to  assume.  Hence,  trouble  arose  between  the  two 
kingdoms  soon  after  the  Union  was  formed,  and  time  has  not 
diminished  the  dissension  lietween  the  two  powers.  It  may 
be  questioned,  indeed,  whether  such  a  Union  between  two 
kingdoms  ever  proves  entirely  satisfactory  to  both  members  of 
it.  Theoretically  the  two  are  entirely  equal ;  practically  tliey 
are  not.  In  some  of  the  functions  of  government  one  state 
or  the  other  must  lead,  as  the  recent  history  of  Austria-Hun- 
gary well  illustrates  (p.  151).  It  seems  necessary  that  there 
should  be  a  common  foreign  policy,  and  this  policy  the  larger 


246  THE   TEUTONIC   NATIONS  book  i 

and  stronger  country  desires  to  shape  and  dictate.  The  armies 
of  the  two  countries  coukl  not  well  take  the  field  together 
unless  there  were  a  common  military  language.  Moreover, 
the  sovereign  of  the  two  kingdoms  is  apt  to  be  especially  iden- 
tified with  the  one  which  has  had  the  greater  and  more  splendid 
career.  We  think  of  Francis  Joseph  as  an  Austrian  ratlier 
than  a  Hungarian.  We  think  of  Oscar  II.  as  a  Swede  rather 
than  a  Norwegian;  for  it  was  Sweden  that  endowed  the  founder 
of  his  line  with  royal  power,  and  it  is  in  Sweden  rather  than 
in  the  sister  kingdom  that  he  finds  the  more  congenial  home. 
He  knows  that  his  Swedish  subjects  are  contented  under  his 
rule,  while  those  of  Norway  are  ever  clamorous  for  rights 
which  they  do  not  easily  obtain. 

It  was  not  strange,  then,  that  Norway  learned  in  the  course 
of  time  to  be  jealous  of  the  larger  and  more  powerful  member 
of  the  Union.  For,  though  in  some  ways  her  rights  as  an  inde- 
pendent kingdom  were  strictly  guarded,  in  others  they  were 
neglected  or  set  aside.  In  case  of  the  throne  becoming  vacant, 
Norway  has  an  equal  voice  with  Sweden  in  the  choice  of  a  new 
king;  for,  by  the  provision  of  the  Act  of  Union,  the  Diets  of 
the  two  countries  are  to  meet  together,  if  such  a  contingency 
occurs,  and  appoint  a  sovereign.  If  they  fail  to  agree  upon 
one,  the  choice  is  to  be  made  by  an  ecpial  number  of  Swedish 
and  Norwegian  deputies  who  meet  at  Karlstad  in  Sweden,  and 
from  their  nomination  there  is  no  appeal.  Nor  can  Norway 
complain  that  she  is  not  sufficiently  consulted  in  the  manage- 
ment of  the  joint  affairs  of  the  two  kingdoms.  Of  the  ten 
ministers  that  form  her  Council  of  State,  three  are  chosen  to 
reside  at  Stockholm,  the  Swedish  capital,  and  to  sit  with  the 
King  and  the  Swedish  Council  of  State  whenever  business  that 
concerns  both  countries  is  transacted.  Again,  the  King  can- 
not declare  war  without  first  obtaining  the  opinion  of  the  Nor- 
wegian Council  of  State  as  to  the  project,  and  getting  from  it 
a  statement  as  to  Norway's  military  resources  and  power  to 
withstand  attack. 

But  in  spite  of  these  safeguards  of  Norway's  equality  in  the 
Union,  she  has  still  found  reason  to  resent  Sweden's  assump- 
tion of  authority  and  leadership.  In  particular,  she  resists  the 
control  which  Sweden  exercises  over  foreign  appointments  and 
foreign  affairs.     For  only   Swedish  consuls   are   sent  to  the 


PART  III  SWEDEN   AND   NORWAY  247 

cities  of  other  countries;  and  while  the  Swedish  Council  of 
State  contains  a  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  that  of  iSTorway 
has  none.  This  was  an  arrangement  that  was  made  in  the 
early  years  of  the  Union,  when  Norway  had  few  dealings 
with  other  nations,  and  it  did  not  then  excite  her  criticism  or 
resentment.  As  her  commerce  has  increased,  she  has  chafed 
under  the  arrangement  and  has  demanded  that  it  be  changed. 
During  recent  years  this  demand  has  grown  very  strong  and 
persistent,  and  has  become  the  cardinal  feature  of  Norwegian 
politics.  The  Norwegians  insist  that  their  country,  as  well  as 
Sweden,  shall  have  foreign  consuls.  This  reform  accom- 
plished, they  expect  to  have  their  own  Minister  of  Foreign 
Affairs  and  to  see  a  joint  Foreign  Ministry  for  the  two  king- 
doms also  established.  Moreover,  they  have  been  disturbed 
because  Norway  had  had  no  royal  standard,  but  only  a  mer- 
chant flag;  and  in  189G  the  Odelsthing  passed  a  bill  providing 
for  the  creation  of  a  separate  standard. 

The  appointment  of  separate  foreign  consuls  would  not  only 
be  greeted  by  Norway  as  an  act  of  justice,  but  would  do  much 
toward  removing  those  apprehensions  which  have  been  excited 
throughout  Norway  by  Sweden's  superior  power  and  menacing 
attitude.  For  some  Swedes  would  gladly  see  Norway  become 
nothing  better  than  a  subject  province;  and  in  furtherance  of 
this  ambition  they  have  tried  to  influence  the  King  against 
Norway's  claims,  and  have  even  proposed  that  the  Norwegians 
be  compelled  by  force  to  revise  their  Constitution  and  give  the 
King  an  absolute  veto  over  the  legislation  of  the  Norwegian 
Diet.^  Naturally  the  Norwegians  have  been  extremely  sensi- 
tive over  these  proposals.  Remote  as  is  the  possibility  that  a 
Swedish  army  would  invade  their  territory,  they  have  yet  been 
excited  by  every  rumor  that  such  a  resort  to  force  was  contem- 
plated. The  intensity  of  their  feeling  on  this  burning  question 
was  shown  by  a  peculiar  resolution  passed  by  the  Storthing  in 
1894.  For  the  Crown  Prince  having  been  reported  as  saying 
that  Norway  might  be  invaded  by  Sweden,  the  Storthing  voted 
to  withhold  the  sum  annually  contributed  to  his  support  by 
Norway  until  this  report  should  be  denied.  The  Crown  Prince 
himself  refused  to  make  any  statement  whatever  about  the 
matter;  but  the  remarks  attributed  to  him  were  Anally  denied 

1  The  Fortnightly  Review,  January,  1898,  p.  99. 


248  THE   TEUTONIC   NATIONS  book  i 

by  the  Prime  Minister,  and  the  usual  contribution  was  then 
made.  Whether  the  feeling  revealed  by  this  incident  can  be 
eradicated  is  doubtful;  but  the  Union  between  the  two  coun- 
tries certainly  seems  more  stable  than  that  of  Austria  and 
Hungary. 

While  the  Constitution  of  Sweden  still  retains  traces  of  feu- 
dalism, that  of  Norway  is  extremely  democratic.  The  King 
with  his  Council  of  State  forms  the  executive  and  is  at  the 
head  of  the  army  and  navy.  He  makes  all  appointments,  and 
he  has  a  temporary  right  of  veto;  but  any  bill  that  is  passed 
by  three  Storthings  separately  and  subsequently  elected, 
becomes  a  law  in  spite  of  his  disapproval.  The  legislative 
power  is  vested  in  a  Storthing  of  114  members  indirectly  chosen 
by  a  restricted  suffrage.  This  body  meets  annually,  and  for 
business  purposes  is  divided  into  the  Odelsthing,  which  com- 
prises one  fourth  of  the  members,  and  the  Lagthing,  which  is 
composed  of  the  remainder.  All  new  measures  must  receive 
consideration  in  the  Odelsthing  first  and  then  be  submitted  to 
the  Lagthing.  If  the  two  bodies  do  not  agree,  they  meet  in 
common,  and  a  law  which  is  passed  by  a  two-thirds  vote  in 
this  joint  session  becomes  valid.  The  members  of  the  Stor- 
thing are  elected  for  three  years.  Agriculture,  forestry,  fish- 
ing, and  manufacturing  form  the  chief  occupations  of  the 
Norwegian  people.  The  population  of  the  country  is  about 
2,000,000,  and  its  area  124,495  square  miles.  Its  commerce 
is  slowly  increasing. 


CHAPTER   V 

SWITZERLAND 

The  Swiss  Confederation  was  of  German  origin.  In  1291 
the  men  of  Uri,  Scliwyz,  and  lower  Unterwalden  formed  a  per- 
petual league,  which  was  at  first  purely  defensive  in  character. 
They  were  subjects  of  the  House  of  Hapsburg,  and  they  did 
not  design  to  throw  off  their  allegiance  to  the  Emperor;  but, 
being  submitted  to  the  despotic  treatment  of  bailiffs  who 
robbed  and  plundered  them  without  mercy,  they  united  to  pro- 
tect themselves  from  violence  and  their  property  from  spolia- 
tion. These  three  districts,  which  founded  the  league,  were 
called  the  Forest  States.  Gradually  they  were  joined  by  other 
German  districts;  and  as  the  Confederation  grew  in  strength, 
its  connection  with  the  Empire  became  weak,  and  was  finally 
abolished  by  the  Peace  of  Westphalia  in  1648. 

But,  although  formed  originally  to  resist  oppression,  the 
Confederation  did  not  become  the  home  of  freedom.  During 
the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries  it  was  little  better 
than  a  dependency  of  France,  and  it  was  largely  dominated  by 
an  aristocracy.^  In  the  Forest  Cantons,  wliere  the  power  was 
exercised  by  the  Landsgemeinden,  or  general  assemblies,  the 
people  kept  tlie  government  in  their  own  hands;  but  the  gen- 
eral tendency  of  the  Cantons  was  toward  oligarchical  rule.  A 
few  families  monopolized  all  the  rights  and  privileges  of  citi- 

1  In  Bern  and  "in  Lnzern,  Froibnrji  and  Solothnrn,  certain  families  had 
obtained  permanent  rule,  to  tlie  exclusion  from  power  of  the  mass  of  the  peo- 
ple. These  four  were  the  aristocratic  Cantons.  Zurich,  Basel,  and  Schaff- 
hausen  were  semi-aristocratic,  the  burghers  having  a  share  in  the  elections, 
from  which  the  country  people  were  excluded.  The  remaining  six  states  out 
of  the  thirteen  then  forming  the  Confederation  were  democratic,  ruling  them- 
selves in  the  I>andsgemeindeu."  —  Adams  and  Cunningham's  "Swiss  Confed- 
eration," p.  11. 

249 


250  THE   TEUTONIC   NATIONS  book  i 


zeiiship,  controlled  public  offices,  and  frowned  upon  all  demo- 
cratic movements  and  opinions.  Among  these  families  there 
was  much  elegance  of  living  and  a  keen  appreciation  of  liter- 
ary and  intellectual  pursuits;  but  popular  education  was  dis- 
couraged, and  the  peasants  remained  ignorant,  unenlightened, 
and  apathetic.  Hence,  the  Confederation  grew  weaker  rather 
than  stronger,  and  its  condition  in  the  eighteenth  century  has 
been  aptly  likened  to  that  of  a  "  weather-beaten  ruin,  ready  to 
fall."^ 

It  was  well,  then,  that  the  echoes  of  tlie  Frencli  Revolution 
found  their  Avay  across  the  Alps,  and  awakened  a  feeling  for 
liberty  among  the  oppressed  Swiss  peasantry.  Not,  indeed, 
that  this  awakening  was  due  solely  to  the  uprising  of  the 
French  in  1789.  As  early  as  1762  a  small  number  of  zealous 
Swiss  patriots  founded  the  Helvetic  Society,  whose  aim  was  to 
heal  religious  dissension  and  to  bring  all  parts  of  Switzerland 
into  closer  and  more  friendly  relations  with  each  other.  By 
the  efforts  of  this  society  a  longing  for  union  and  independence 
was  created  in  the  minds  of  the  Swiss  people,  and  the  French 
Revolution  found  the  country  open  to  the  spread  of  liberal 
ideas.  In  1790  the  Helvetian  Club  was  formed  at  Paris  by  a 
few  Swiss  who  were  living  in  exile  there;  and  through  its 
activity  the  peasantry  in  the  western  part  of  the  Confederation 
were  led  to  rise  against  their  rulers.  At  first  not  very  much 
was  accomplished  by  these  insurrections,  for  the  aristocratic 
governments  were  usually  strong  enough  to  hold  the  people  in 
subjection  by  armed  force.  Bat  after  a  time  the  attention  of 
the  French  Directory  was  attracted  by  these  revolutionary 
movements,  and  French  troops  were  sent 'into  the  Cantons 
to  further  the  cause  of  popular  liberty.  Although  fiercely 
opposed,  the  French  bore  down  all  opposition,  and  with  their 
triumph  the  ancient  Swiss  Confederation  came  to  an  end.  It 
had  never  attained  to  constitutional  strength  and  dignity;  for 
Avhile  it  lasted  there  had  never  been  a  federal  Constitution, 
and  the  Cantons  had  been  bound  by  no  stronger  tie  than  tliat- 
of  the  alliances  they  had  formed  among  themselves.  Nor  did 
the  Diet,  its  central  governing  body,  possess  those  powers 
which  command  respect  and  win  obedience.  The  downfall  of 
the  Confederation,  then,  was  not  a  misfortune.  The  organiza- 
1  Diindliker's  "  Short  History  of  Switzerland,"  p.  193. 


PART  lu  SWITZERLAND  251 


tion  had  outlived  its  usefulness  and  was  fittingly  set  aside  for 
a  more  perfect  union. 

But  perfect  union  did  not  at  once  rise  from  its  ruins.  In  its 
place  was  established,  through  the  influence  of  the  Directory, 
the  Helvetic  Republic,  which  was  accepted  by  ten  of  the  thir- 
teen members  of  the  old  Confederation,  a  Constitution  being 
adopted  at  the  same  time.  But  the  new  scheme  of  government 
proved  to  be  a  faulty  one.  If  the  Confederation  had  left  too 
much  power  to  the  individual  Cantons,  the  Kepublic  erred  in 
taking  their  sovereignty  away.  More  and  more  unpopular  did 
the  government  grow,  as  the  Cantons  realized  how  much  their 
freedom  had  been  curtailed;  and  the  French,  who  had  been 
welcomed  as  liberators,  were  soon  denounced  as  tyrants.  For 
the  Directory  controlled  the  government  of  the  Republic;  and 
its  soldiers  even  put  down  by  force  all  rebellious  movements 
on  the  part  of  the  Cantons. 

It  was  with  relief,  therefore,  that  the  Swiss  people  learned 
of  the  overthrow  of  the  Directory  and  of  the  establishment  of 
the  Consulate,  with  Napoleon  at  its  head.  No  longer  sup- 
ported by  French  bayonets,  the  Helvetic  Government  found 
difficulty  in  maintaining  itself;  and  when  Bonaparte  withdrew 
the  French  troops  from  Swiss  territory,  in  1.S02,  its  downfall 
seemed  near  at  hand.  It  Avas  not  indeed  without  friends.  A 
considerable  portion  of  the  people,  who  were  in  favor  of  a 
strong  central  government,  and  who  were  termed  the  "unitary 
party"  because  they  were  devoted  to  the  cause  of  national 
union,  upheld  the  Republic.  But  the  Federalists,  who  believed 
above  all  things  in  Cantonal  independence,  proved  stronger 
than  the  Unitarians  and  began  to  drive  the  Government  to 
the  wall.  To  quiet  these  dissensions  Bonaparte  summoned  a 
number  of  the  political  leaders  of  the  country  to  a  conference 
at  Paris;  and,  after  considering  with  them  the  difficulties  of 
the  existing  situation,  he  laid  before  them  an  Act  of  Media- 
tion which  he  had  himself  in  great  measure  composed,  and 
which  he  thought  adapted  to  the  existing  needs  of  the  Swiss 
people. 

But  Bonaparte  was  too  selfish  to  consider  chiefly  and  solely 
the  interests  of  the  Cantons.  The  Act  of  Mediation  performed 
an  important  use ;  for  under  the  Government  which  it  estab- 
lished the  country  enjoyed  eleven  years  of  peace  and  was 


252  THE   TEUTONIC   NATIONS  book  i 

largely  freed  from  political  dissensions.  But  it  was  a  compro- 
mise between  new  and  old  ideas  of  government  rather  than  a 
scientific  attempt  to  solve  difficult  constitutional  questions 
and  secure  national  union  and  progress.  Moreover,  the  Act 
of  Mediation  gave  France  a  strong  hold  upon  the  Cantons, 
Bonaparte  being  determined  to  profit  as  much  as  possible  from 
the  troubles  and  weaknesses  of  the  Swiss  people.  The  im- 
portant features  of  the  Act  were  that  six  new  Cantons  were 
added  to  the  thirteen  old  ones ;  the  Diet,  whose  delegates  did 
not  express  the  will  of  the  people,  but  were  directed  and  con- 
trolled by  the  Cantonal  Governments,  was  reestablished;  all 
who  refused  to  obey  the  decisions  of  the  Diet  were  to  suffer 
penalty;  Freiburg  (Freibourg),  Bern  (Berne),  Solothurn 
(Soleure),  Basel,  Ziirich,  and  Luzern  (Lucerne)  were  consti- 
tuted capital  seats  of  Government,  and  the  Diet  was  required 
to  meet  in  each  of  these  Cantons  for  a  year  in  due  order  of 
rotation;  the  mayor  of  the  Canton  in  which  the  Diet  held  its 
sittings  was  by  virtue  of  his  office  made  Landamman,  or  chief 
executive,  of  the  Government;  subject  lands  ^  and  all  privi- 
leges of  family,  birth,  or  nobility  were  abolished,  though  the 
rights  of  the  people  and  liberty  of  the  press  were  not  secured ; 
popular  assemblies  were  restored  in  the  democratic  Cantons, 
but  in  the  others  the  Government  was  preserved  to  the  aris- 
tocracy and  a  property  qualification  was  required  both  of 
voters  and  candidates. 

Even  from  this  meagre  outline  it  may  be  seen  that  the  Act 
of  Mediation  was  what  its  name  implied.  It  was  a  middle 
course,  an  attempt  to  conciliate  elements  that  could  not  be 
harmoniously  blended.  Disintegration  was  prevented,  but 
union  was  not  secured;  obedience  to  the  Diet  was  exacted, 
but  the  central  Government  did  not  receive  adequate  powers; 
aristocracy  was  rebuked,  but  the  principles  of  democracy  were 
not  fairly  recognized.  Hence,  in  spite  of  its  many  excellent 
features,  the  Act  of  Mediation  did  not  outlast  iSTapoleon's  owij 
period  of  supremacy.     Soon  after  his  defeat  at  Leipsic  the 

1  The  subject  lands,  which  caused  much  dispute  and  angry  feeling  among 
the  Cantons  until  they  were  abolished  by  the  Congress  of  Vienna,  were  ac- 
quired in  the  period  when  boundaries  were  not  definitely  settled  and  the 
stronger  Cantons  were  endeavoring  to  enlarge  their  territory  by  conquest. 
Bern,  in  particular,  greatly  extended  its  domains  in  this  way.  Consult 
Freeman's  "  Historical  Geography  of  Europe,"  p.  281. 


PART  III  SV/ITZERLAND  253 


forces  of  the  allies  crossed  the  Swiss  frontier,  and,  largely 
through  Austrian  influence,  the  Diet  was  induced  to  abolish 
the  Act  of  Mediation  just  before  the  end  of  December,  1813. 
But  now  the  old  differences  showed  themselves  afresh.  The 
friends  and  the  enemies  of  a  strongly  centralized  government 
quarrelled  fiercely,  and  a  considerable  party  desired  to  do  away 
with  the  six  newly  constituted  Cantons  and  entirely  restore 
the  old  order  of  things.  Accordingly,  the  Congress  of  Vienna 
was  obliged  to  settle  some  of  the  disputed  questions  and  make 
such  territorial  changes  as  seemed  necessary.  It  recognized 
the  independence  and  neutrality  of  Switzerland  on  condition 
that  the  new  Cantons  should  be  maintained;  and,  on  March  20, 
1815,  it  raised  the  total  number  of  the  Cantons  to  twenty-two, 
by  adding  to  those  already  existing  Wallis  (the  Valais),  which 
from  mediaeval  times  to  1798  had  been  a  Re2:)ublic  in  alliance 
with  the  Confederation;  Neuenburg  (Xeuchatel),  which,  once 
subject  to  Prussia,  had  been  given  to  Marshal  Berthier  by 
Napoleon;  and  Genf  (Geneve),  which  had  been  annexed  to 
France  in  1798,  but  was  now  independent.  But  the  Valtelline 
district  in  the  Rhaitian  Alps,  Chiavenna,  a  town  which,  for- 
merly belonging  to  the  Grisons,  was  made  a  part  of  the  Cis- 
alpine Republic  in  1797,  and  Worms  were  assigned  by  the 
Congress  to  Austria;  and  Miilhausen,  which  was  recognized 
as  an  independent  ally  of  the  Swiss  Confederation  by  the  Peace 
of  Westphalia,  but  which  sought  incorporation  with  France 
in  1798  for  commercial  reasons,  was  not  restored  to  the 
Cantons. 

While  these  territorial  questions  were  being  settled  by  the 
Congress  of  Vienna,  the  Diet  of  the  Confederation  sat  at 
Zurich,  and  drew  up  a  new  Constitution  which  was  termed  the 
"  Federal  Pact."  Approved  by  the  Congress  of  Vienna,  it  was 
sworn  to  on  August  7,  1815,  by  all  the  Cantons  except  Nidwald 
(Lower  Unterwalden),  which  only  accepted  it  under  compul- 
sion. But  the  Federal  Pact  did  not  prove  to  be  an  improve- 
ment upon  the  Act  of  Mediation.  It  secured  the  sovereignty 
of  the  Cantons  without  strengthening  the  central  authority, 
and  thus  made  Switzerland  into  a  loose  confederation,  the 
members  of  which  acted  in  concert  only  in  matters  of  foreign 
policy  and  to  maintain  order  in  the  interior.  Subject  lands 
were   not   allowed,  and  no   class    of   citizens  was   permitted 


254  THE   TEUTONIC   NATIONS  book  i 

to  monopolize  political  rights;  but  free  trade  between  the 
Cantons  was  not  recognized,  the  rights  of  citizenship  were 
not  clearly  defined,  nor  was  it  expressly  stated  that  the  peo- 
ple were  at  liberty  to  reside  in  whatever  Canton  they 
preferred. 

Naturally  the  country  was  restless  and  dissatisfied  under 
such  an  imperfect  bond  of  vinion.  In  1819  the  Helvetic  Society 
formed  itself  into  a  political  association,  renounced  all  sympa- 
thy with  aristocratic  principles,  and  devoted  itself  to  the  work 
of  national  reforms.  Various  scientific  and  patriotic  organiza- 
tions also  disseminated  liberal  ideas;  while  the  press  espoused 
the  cause  of  national  unity  and  popular  government. 

Thus  the  movement  toward  democracy  and  more  perfect  fed- 
eration grew  increasingly  strong,  although  it  roused  persistent 
and  bitter  opposition.  The  Cantons  had  been  left  free  by  the 
Federal  Pact  to  shape  their  own  Constitutions;  and  this  free- 
dom had  in  many  cases  been  used  by  the  aristocracy  to  with- 
hold political  privileges  from  the  common  people.  Accordingly, 
the  ruling  class,  which  was  centred  in  the  cities,  resisted  in- 
novations, and  the  Catholic  Church  used  its  influence  against 
political  change.  The  Jesuits  were  particularly  active  in 
stifling  reform  movements  and  obstructing  the  free  develop- 
ment of  liberal  ideas.  But  the  tides  that  set  toward  progress 
could  not  be  stemmed  nor  stayed.  Largely  through  the  work 
of  the  Helvetic  Society  the  more  progressive  Cantons  began  to 
revise  their  Constitutions;  and  when  the  uprising  in  Paris 
occurred  in  1830,  this  movement  was  greatly  accelerated.  The 
conflict  between  the  Liberals  and  Conservatives  was  especially 
fierce  at  Zurich,  where  Dr.  Ludwig  Snell  exerted  a  powerful 
influence  in  favor  of  reform.  He  advocated  equal  rights  for 
all,  the  sovereignty  of  the  people,  and  popular  education ;  and 
so  ably  did  he  lead  the  party  of  progress  that  Zurich  adopted 
a  Constitution  embodying  his  ideas. 

Elated  by  this  triumph,  the  Liberals  renewed  their  efforts 
all  over  Switzerland;  and  in  most  of  the  Cantons  they  carried 
through  important  constitutional  changes,  by  which  the  liberty 
of  the  press,  the  right  of  assembly  and  the  right  of  petition, 
free  trade,  and  free  choice  of  residence  were  guaranteed. 
Moreover,  these  changes  were  not  considered  final,  but  pro- 
vision was  made  that  the  Constitutions  shovild  be  revised  at 


PART    III 


SWITZERLAND  255 


stated  intervals,   in  order  that  the   growth  of  the  people  in 
liberal  thought  might  find  its  due  expression. 

But  religious  warfare  was  destined  to  interfere  with  politi- 
cal progress.  Some  of  the  most  distinguished  leaders  of  the 
liberal  movement  were  sceptics  and  free-thinkers  in  religious 
matters;  and  the  Catholic  Church,  accordingly,  was  hostile 
toward  their  schemes  for  national  regeneration.  Indeed,  the 
Church  exercised  so  strong  a  reactionary  influence,  that  the 
feeling  between  the  Catholics  and  Protestants  in  Switzerland 
was  almost  as  bitter  as  it  was  in  the  period  of  the  Reformation.^ 
Only  a  trivial  cause  was  needed  to  bring  about  an  open  con- 
flict; and  this  cause  was  supplied,  when,  in  1840,  the  Radicals 
in  Argau  proved  to  be  in  a  popular  majority.  Unwilling  to 
be  dominated  by  free-thinkers,  the  Clericals  excited  a  revolt; 
and  when  the  revolt  was  suppressed,  the  Radicals  retorted  by 
voting  to  do  away  with  the  eight  monasteries  in  the  Canton. 
As  this  proceeding  was  in  violation  of  the  Pact  of  1815,  the 
seven  Catholic  Cantons  —  Uri,  Schwyz,  Untervvalden,  Luzern 
(Lucerne),  Zug,  Freiburg  (Freibourg),  and  Wallis  (Valais)  — 
took  alarm,  and,  in  1843,  formed  a  league,  called  the  Sonder- 
bund,  for  mutual  protection  and  defence.  As  this  bold  move 
did  not  call  forth  any  protest  from  the  Diet,  the  Sonderbund 
became  aggressive;  and,  in  December,  1845,  it  declared  itself 
ready  to  take  up  arms  in  defence  of  the  constitutional  rights 
of  the  Cantons.  But  this  resort  to  violence  ended  in  disaster. 
For  the  Radicals  finally  carried  a  sufficient  number  of  Cantons 
to  control  the  Diet;  and,  on  July  20,  1847,  that  body  pro- 
nounced the  Sonderbund  contrary  to  the  Federal  Pact,  and  on 
the  3d  of  the  following  September  it  invited  each  Canton  to 
expel  the  Jesuits.  As  this  invitation  met  with  no  response, 
the  Diet  voted,  on  November  4,  to  carry  out  its  decree  by  force 
of  arms.  From  such  an  excited  state  of  feeling  a  bloody  war 
might  easily  have  resulted;  but  the  genius  of  Dufour,  who 
conducted  the  campaign  for  the  Diet,  soon  brought  resistance 
to  an  end  with  small  loss  of  life.  One  after  another  the  rebel- 
lious Cantons  submitted  to  the  authority  of  the  Diet,  till  the 
whole  country  was  pacified.^ 

1  For  the  conflict  between  the  Church  and  the  State,  consult  A.  Morin's 
"  Precis  tie  I'Histoire  Politique  de  la  Suisse,"  V.  140  ct  seq. 

2  For  the  excellent  work  done  by  Dufour,  see  Morin's  "  Pre'cis,"  III.  26-42. 


256  THE   TEUTONIC   NATIONS  book  i 

But  the  period  of  war  and  dissension  had  taught  its  own 
lessons.  The  movement  for  reform  had  made  so  much  head- 
way that  the  Cantons  were  determined  to  do  away  with  the 
Pact  of  1815,  which  was  so  manifestly  inadequate  to  the  politi- 
cal needs  of  the  country.  Accordingly,  a  new  Constitution  was 
drafted,  by  direction  of  the  Diet,  in  1848,  and  as  it  was  ac- 
cepted in  the  summer  of  that  year  by  fifteen  and  a  half  Can- 
tons, it  was  proclaimed  on  September  12.  Although  it  did 
not  embody  all  the  principles  that  were  advocated  by  the  Lib- 
erals of  the  country,  it  was  a  better  instrument  than  any  that 
had  been  composed  before;  and  under  the  government  which 
it  established  the  country  progressed  quietly  and  peaceably 
for  many  years.  Political  strife  did  not  disappear,  but  it  was 
no  longer  characterized  by  the  acrimony  and  violence  that  liad 
formerly  prevailed.  There  was  now  a  general  feeling  that, 
although  further  changes  were  necessary,  they  would  come  of 
themselves  in  a  slow  and  orderly  way ;  and  that  neither  the 
Radicals  nor  the  Reactionaries  needed  to  keep  the  whole  coun- 
try disturbed  by  their  heated  and  vehement  controversies. 

Not  until  1874,  therefore,  Avas  the  Constitution  made  over 
and  improved;  and  even  then  its  most  important  features  were 
retained.  The  new  document,  which  was  accepted  by  14  Can- 
tons against  7  and  by  a  popular  vote  of  340, 199  against  198,013, 
was,  indeed,  the  old  one  revised  and  amended  as  the  experi- 
ences of  twenty-five  years  suggested  and  made  necessary.  The 
rights  of  the  people  were  now  more  securely  guarded,  and  the 
powers  of  the  central  Government  were  somewhat  increased. 
In  other  respects  the  new  Constitution  was  like  the  old.  It 
provided  for  two  parliamentary  bodies,  a  State  Council  and  a 
National  Council.  Tlie  members  of  the  first  number  forty-four, 
each  Canton  choosing  two  in  whatever  manner  it  may  prefer. 
The  members  of  the  National  Council  are  elected  directly  by 
the  people,  in  the  proportion  of  one  representative  for  every 
20,000  inhabitants.  The  members  of  each  Council  are  chosen 
for  three  years,  and  the  suffrage  belongs  to  all  who  have 
reached  the  age  of  twenty.  But  although  the  rights  of  citizen- 
ship are  thus  bestowed  upon  thoroughly  democratic  principles, 
the  people  have  no  voice  in  the  choice  of  a  chief  executive. 
For  the  two  Houses  have  not  only  legislative,  but  also  execu- 
tive, authority.     Sitting  together  they  compose  the   Federal 


PART  III  SWirZERLAND  257 

Assembly ;  and  upon  this  Assembly  devolves  the  task  of  choos- 
ing a  Federal  Council  of  seven  members,  and  electing  its  Presi- 
dent and  Vice-President.  These  officials  serve  for  one  year 
only  and  are  the  chief  magistrates  of  the  country.  They 
cannot  be  reelected  for  the  ensuing  year;  but  usually  the  Vice- 
President  is  chosen  to  succeed  the  outgoing  President.  But 
although  the  President  is  the  head  of  the  nation's  executive 
department,  his  powers  are  sharply  limited,  and  his  responsi- 
bilities are  fully  shared  by  the  Federal  Council,  which  has 
more  important  functions  than  those  of  a  Cabinet.  It  is 
expected  to  manage  foreign  affairs,  maintain  tranquillity  and 
order  throughout  the  country,  administer  the  finances,  prepare 
the  budget,  and  render  an  account  of  receipts  and  expenditures. 
It  also  sends  messages  to  the  Assembly  upon  all  subjects  which 
it  considers  worthy  of  special  attention.  Intrusted  with  these 
grave  duties,  it  is  not  allowed  to  become  a  mere  party  organ, 
for  its  members  do  not  solely  represent  the  majority  in  the 
Assembly.  When,  for  example,  the  Liberals  are  in  control  of 
affairs.  Conservatives  and  Clericals  are  found  sitting  in  the 
Federal  Council;  and  any  member  of  the  Council  who  proves 
to  be  able  and  efficient  almost  invariably  retains  his  position 
for  a  number  of  years. 

Considering  the  character  and  extent  of  its  responsibilities, 
the  Council  might  with  propriety  be  intrusted  with  the  power 
to  enforce  the  laws  and  compel  obedience;  but  its  ultimate 
authority  is  weak.  Should  any  Canton  adopt  an  unconstitu- 
tional measure,  the  Council  could  not  compel  it  to  revoke  the 
measure  by  an  armed  force.  It  could  go  no  farther  than  to 
quarter  troops  upon  the  refractory  Canton  and  thus  force  it  to 
submit  to  a  heavy  expense  so  long  as  its  rebellious  mood  con- 
tinued. But  this  method  of  securing  obedience  usually  proves 
effective.  The  Cantons  prefer  submission  to  a  continuous 
financial  drain. 

But  the  most  notable  and  distinctive  feature  of  the  Swiss 
Constitution  is  the  Referendum.  This  peculiar  institution 
was  known  and  practised  in  a  rudimentary  form  before  the  old 
Swiss  Confederation  came  to  an  end;  for  in  some  of  the  Can- 
tons which  had  no  Landsgemeinden,  or  popular  assemblies,  the 
Governments  consulted  the  people  from  time  to  time  upon 
matters  of  importance.     In  1831  the  Canton  of  Saint  Gallen 


258  THE   TEUTONIC   NATIONS  book  i 

(Saint  Gall)  formally  adopted  the  Referendum  in  its  Consti- 
tution, which  declared  that  the  sovereignty  rested  with  the 
people,  and  every  law,  accordingly,  was  subject  to  their  ap- 
proval. This  local  recognition  of  the  people's  rights  became 
national  in  1848,  for  the  Federal  Constitution,  which  was 
framed  in  that  year,  contained  a  provision  which  practically 
gave  the  people  control  over  the  matter  of  constitutional 
amendment.  It  was  through  this  provision  that  the  Constitu- 
tion of  1874  was  submitted  to  the  people  and  adopted  by  the 
vote  already  recorded;  and  one  of  the  popular  features  of  the 
new  Constitution  was,  that  it  not  only  retained  the  Refer- 
endum, but  enlarged  its  scope  by  extending  it  to  ordinary 
laws  as  well  as  to  constitutional  revision. 

Thus  the  Referendum  gained  a  fixed  and  apparently  perma- 
nent place  in  the  politics  of  the  country;  and  the  people 
acquired  a  large  measure  of  control  over  their  law-makers. 
Two  forms  of  the  institution  are  to  be  noticed,  the  optional 
and  the  compulsory.  When  the  Referendum  is  optional,  the 
people  may  pass  judgment  upon  their  Constitution  or  their 
laws,  but  their  sanction  is  not  required  by  statute.  When  the 
Referendum  is  compulsory,  a  law  or  a  constitutional  amend- 
ment is  not  legal  until  it  has  been  submitted  to  the  people  and 
has  obtained  their  approval.  As  regards  the  laws  passed  by 
the  national  parliament  (the  State  Council  and  the  National 
Council),  the  Referendum  is  optional.  There  is  no  constitu- 
tional requirement  that  such  laws,  to  be  valid,  must  be  sub- 
mitted to  the  people  for  their  approval;  but  if  any  national  law 
gives  dissatisfaction,  either  eight  Cantons  or  30,000  citizens 
by  a  written  petition  can  demand  that  the  people  pass  judg- 
ment upon  it.  And  that  this  right  is  not  a  nominal  one  is 
shown  by  the  recent  history  of  the  country.  For,  between  the 
years  1874  and  1893,  19  laws  out  of  169  Avere  voted  on  by  the 
people  through  the  exercise  of  the  Optional  Referendum,  and 
of  these  19,  13  were  rejected.  The  people  can  also  take  the 
matter  of  constitutional  revision  into  their  own  hands  by  a 
species  of  the  Optional  Referendum,  which  is  termed  the 
"Popular  Initiative."  For  by  a  provision  adopted  in  1848 
and  retained  in  1874,  the  popular  vote  must  be  taken  upon  any 
constitutional  change  that  is  demanded  in  writing  by  50,000 
voters. 


PART  III  SWITZERLAND  259 


But  when  the  Federal  Assembly  revises  the  Constitution,  as 
it  has  the  right  to  do,  such  revision  must  be  submitted  to  the 
verdict  of  the  people ;  or,  in  other  words,  the  Referendum  is 
compulsory.  For  the  revision  is  not  legal  until  it  has  been 
approved  by  a  majority  both  of  the  voters  and  of  the  Cantons. 
Thus,  the  people  themselves  have  a  voice  in  all  constitutional 
changes;  while  in  the  United  States,  whose  national  develop- 
ment has  also  come  through  the  federative  principle,  it  is  the 
States  alone  that  pass  judgment  upon  constitutional  amend- 
ments. For  the  amendments  that  are  proposed  by  Congress 
are  valid  and  become  parts  of  the  Constitution  when  they  have 
been  ratified  by  three-fourths  of  the  States,  either  through 
their  legislatures  or  through  specially  called  conventions. 

In  the  individual  Cantons  the  Referendum  is  quite  generally 
employed ;  for  the  example  that  was  set  by  Saint  Gallen  (Saint 
Gall)  in  1831  was  almost  universally  followed.  After  the  new 
and  more  liberal  Constitution  was  adopted,  in  1848,  the  Cantons 
one  by  one  altered  their  own  Constitutions,  at  once  making 
them  more  democratic  and  providing  either  for  an  Optional  or 
a  Compulsory  Referendum.  Accordingly,  in  some  of  the  Can- 
tons all  laws  must  be  submitted  to  the  people ;  in  others,  the 
people  can  accept  or  reject  any  law  by  demanding  the  right  to 
vote  upon  it.  In  Zurich  the  Compulsory  Referendum  has  been 
adopted,  and  from  the  beginning  of  18G9  to  August,  1893,  the 
people  ratified  97  and  rejected  31  of  the  128  laws  passed  by 
their  legislature. 

The  Referendum  of  Switzerland  has  attracted  the  attention 
of  other  nations,  and  has  been  generally  considered  an  excel- 
lent means  of  submitting  legislators  to  popular  control.  Even 
in  the  United  States  its  introduction  has  been  considered;  but 
the  size  of  the  country  makes  such  a  cumbersome  method  of 
obtaining  the  direct  vote  of  the  people  upon  legislation  prac- 
tically impossible.  Moreover,  there  is  grave  reason  to  doubt 
whether  tlie  Referendum  has  been  an  unmixed  blessing  to 
Switzerland.  It  has  its  critics  as  well  as  its  defenders,  and 
that  it  may  easily  produce  unfortunate  results  a  little  reflection 
will  suffice  to  show.  For  when  the  people  can  indorse  or  reject 
laws  at  pleasure,  legislators  lose  their  sense  of  responsibility 
and  either  frame  measures  carelessly  or  allow  their  own  con- 
victions to  be  governed  by  the  dictates  of  the  populace.     It  is 


260  THE   TEUTONIC   NATIONS  book  i 

worthy  of  note  that  a  recent  and  exhaustive  study  of  the 
Referendum  does  not  take  a  wholly  favorable  view  of  the 
institution.^ 

From  this  study  of  Switzerland  it  would  appear  that  the 
principle  of  federation  has  quieted  political  discussions  and 
established  a  stable  government;  but  it  has  hardly  made  a 
strong  nation.  That  it  has  so  far  failed,  however,  does  not 
afford  legitimate  ground  for  criticism.  The  Swiss  Cantons 
desired  national  existence,  but  they  have  not  aspired  to 
national  greatness.  With  its  3,000,000  people  and  its  16,000 
square  miles  of  territory,  Switzerland  could  not  take  its  place 
among  the  foremost  European  powers  or  play  a  conspicuoiis 
part  in  European  politics.  In  its  weakness  lies  its  strength. 
Unable  to  cope  with  the  great  military  powers  of  Europe,  it 
rests  secure  against  attacks,  because  the  great  powers  would 
not  allow  it  to  be  invaded  or  despoiled.  Accordingly,  not 
being  forced  to  maintain  a  standing  army  or  to  have  a  vigorous 
foreign  policy,  it  finds  its  Constitution  adequate  to  its  needs. 
If  the  Government  is  lacking  in  executive  authority,  it  is  yet 
strong  enough  to  secure  to  its  citizens  the  privileges  that 
belong  to  an  enlightened  democracy. 

1  "The  Referendum  in  Switzerland,"  by  Simon  Deploige.  An  able  discus- 
sion of  the  subject  may  be  found  in  Mr.  Lowell's  "  Governments  and  Parties 
in  Continental  Europe  "  ;  and  the  same  writer  has  criticised  the  institution  in 
tlie  Inter  national  Journal  of  Ethics,  (>:  51.  A  reply  to  this  criticism  is  con- 
tained in  the  same  volume  of  this  journal,  p.  509.  In  the  Contemporary 
Revieio,  G7 :  328,  there  is  an  article  hy  Numa  Droz  which  presents  the  merits 
and  defects  of  the  Referendum  in  a  fair  and  temperate  manner. 


BOOK    II 
GREAT   BRITAIN   AND    HER   COLONIES 


GREAT   BRITAIN 
CANADA 

NEWFOUNDLAND 
AUSTRALIA 

New  South  Wales 

Victoria 

South  Australia 

Queensland 

Tasmania 

Western  Australia 


NEW    ZEALAND 
SOUTH   AFRICA 

Cape  Colony 

Natal 

The  Transvaal 

The  Orange  Free 
State 


CHAPTER  I 

CHARACTER  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN'S  POLITICAL  PROGRESS.  —  HER 
HISTORY  FROM  1800  TO  THE  DEATH  OF  GEORGE  III.  IN 
1820 

The  political  history  of  Great  Britain  has  been  a  peculiar 
one.  The  Anglo-Saxon  portion  of  her  population,  confined 
for  the  most  part  to  England,  has  always  possessed  strong 
liberty-loving  instincts,  and  has  fiercely  maintained  its  rights 
against  the  encroachments  of  king  and  nobles.  Sometimes, 
indeed,  the  nobles  have  made  common  cavise  with  the  people 
in  resisting  the  tyranny  of  the  sovereign.  Accordingly,  the 
political  progress  of  England  presents  a  striking  contrast  to 
that  of  France.  In  France  we  see  the  people  concentrate  their 
resistance  to  oppression  into  a  few  awful  years  of  blood  and 
terror.  In  England  the  will  of  the  people  has  made  itself  felt 
ever  since  Magna  Charta,  and  the  emancipation  of  the  masses 
has  been  going  on  for  seven  hundred  years.  Slowly  and  reluc- 
tantly the  English  sovereigns  have  recognized  the  Commons 
as  their  masters.  While  continental  Europe  accepted  the 
theory  of  the  divine  right  of  kings,  England  made  the  monarchs 
feel  that  they  reigned  by  grace  of  their  own  subjects.  As 
early  as  the  thirteenth  century  the  rude  beginnings  of  a  par- 
liament were  made,  and  from  that  time  on  parliamentary  gov- 
ernment in  England  grew  in  favor  with  the  people.  Little  by 
little  the  rights  of  tlie  king  were  curtailed  and  those  of  tlie 
Commons  were  increased,  until  at  last  it  became  a  part  of  the 
unwritten  constitution  of  the  land  that  the  sovereign  was  to 
have  no  will  of  his  own  in  political  affairs. 

But  this  same  Anglo-Saxon  people  which  has  so  fiercely 
asserted  its  own  political  freedom  has  not  always  shown  re- 
spect for  the  rights  of  others.  More  than  once  have  the  Scotch 
and  the  Irish  found  the  Saxon  a  hard  master.     It  must  be 

265 


266  GREAT   BRITAIN   AND    HER   COLONIES  book  ii 

admitted  that  tlie  political  progress  of  England  was,  to  some 
extent,  shared  by  Scotland  and  Ireland;  for  her  representative 
institutions  were  extended  into  those  countries.  But  these 
institutions  did  not  put  political  power  into  the  hands  of  the 
common  people.  Even  in  England  the  suffrage  was  so  re- 
stricted that  the  people's  representatives  expressed  the  will 
of  the  few  rather  than  of  the  many ;  yet  none  the  less  did  the 
masses  voice  their  opinions  and  influence  the  conduct  of  affairs. 
The  great  leaders  of  the  House  of  Commons,  like  Pym,  Pitt, 
and  Charles  James  Fox,  had  no  thought  of  defying  and  antago- 
nizing public  opinion.  Rather  did  they  wish  to  feel  that  their 
measures  were  an  outgrowth  of  past  experience  and  would 
command  the  support  of  the  liberty-loving  English  nation. 
Thus,  the  rugged  temper  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  commanded  the 
respect  of  the  lawmakers  of  the  land. 

But  in  Scotland  the  common  people  had  far  less  influence 
upon  the  aifairs  of  government,  and  in  Ireland  they  had  none 
at  all.  In  their  misty  and  mountainous  country  the  Scotch 
lived  in  contented  poverty,  and,  with  true  Gaelic  loyalty,  were 
more  concerned  with  the  fortunes  of  the  House  of  Stuart  than 
with  the  course  of  everyday  events.  Sharing  the  political 
destinies  of  England,  and  sharing  also  the  English  love  of 
freedom,  they  fought  under  the  English  banner;  and  even 
while  they  retained  their  own  religious  spirit  and  their  own 
independent  ways  of  thought  and  life,  they  contributed  to 
England's  strength  and  greatness.  But  they  were  too  few  in 
numbers  to  command  the  serious  attention  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  and,  excepting  the  rare  occasions  when  devotion  to 
religious  dogma  or  to  exiled  prince  drove  them  into  rebellion, 
they  remained  quiet,  peaceable,  and  law-abiding.  In  Ireland, 
however,  there  was  continual  unrest  and  turmoil.  Eepresen- 
tative  government  meant  nothing  to  the  Irish  peasantry.  The 
peasants  themselves  were  largely  Catholics,  and  Catholics  had 
no  political  rights  whatever.  So  this  despised  and  suffering 
class  bore  poverty,  injustice,  and  persecution,  only  to  find 
more  awful  misery  if  they  rose  to  redress  their  wrongs  (p.  301). 
For  rebellion  was  always  stamped  out  with  sickening  brutality. 
In  1782  a  lame  attempt  was  made  to  give  the  island  the  bene- 
fits of  self-government,  as  its  National  Parliament,  which  was 
first  established  in  1613,  was  made  independent  of  the  British 


CHAP.  I        GREAT   BRITAIN'S   POLITICAL   PROGRESS  267 

Parliament  and  allowed  to  control  Irish  affairs.  But  as  Catho- 
lics could  not  vote,  the  Parliament  did  not  truly  represent  the 
people;  and  though  it  accomplished  some  good  results,  it  did 
not  reconcile  the  people  to  English  rule.  In  1798  occurred  the 
formidable  rebellion  of  the  United  Irishmen,  a  rebellion  which 
was  stamped  out  with  terrible  severity  and  which  left  the 
country  pacified  indeed,  but  bleeding,  vindictive,  and  resent- 
ful. In  the  following  year,  through  the  skilful  negotiations 
of  Pitt,  the  union  of  Ireland  with  Great  Britain  was  brouglit 
about,  and  the  Dublin  Parliament  came  to  an  end. 

Thus,  the  political  history  of  Great  Britain  shows  a  lack  of 
unity.  It  is  a  record  of  justice  and  injustice,  of  freedom  and 
tyranny,  of  progress  painfully  accomplished  and  domineering 
instincts  stubbornly  retained.  But  the  story  with  its  lights 
and  shadows  is  a  wonderful  and  inspiring  one.  No  other 
nation  has  through  so  many  centuries  done  service  to  the 
cause  of  human  freedom ;  no  other  nation  has  spread  the  reign 
of  justice  and  order  over  so  many  lands.  Por  England  has 
sent  her  teeming  millions  into  regions  near  and  far,  into  ice- 
bound tracts,  sunny  islands,  tropical  jungles,  and  mountainous 
wilds;  and  wherever  her  flag  has  waved,  lawlessness,  violence, 
and  tyranny  have  disappeared.  And  as  her  colonies  have 
waxed  great  and  powerful  and  have  learned  to  manage  their 
own  affairs,  they  have  adopted  her  free  institutions  and  made 
their  own  contril)utions  to  political  progress. 

But,  in  spite  of  the  growth  and  expansion  of  six  hundred 
years,  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  did  not  find  the 
English  people  prosperous  and  happy.  The  workingman  in 
particular  suffered  many  hardships.  The  middle  classes  were 
not  devoid  of  political  rights,  but  the  day-laborer  was  treated 
almost  like  a  chattel.  He  could  not  vote,  he  could  not  com- 
bine with  his  fellow-laborers  to  resist  the  grinding  exactions 
of  capital.  His  hours  of  labor  were  oppressively  long,  and 
his  children  had  to  begin  work  very  young  in  order  to  keep 
from  starvation.  The  law  treated  him  with  merciless  severity. 
Larceny,  poaching,  and  other  petty  crimes  were  punishable 
with  death.  But  such  were  the  jail  accommodations  that  death 
was  preferable  to  imprisonment.  Brutality,  uncleanliness, 
hunger,  was  the  lot  of  prisoners.  Vermin  swarmed  in  the 
cells.     Beds  were   not  provided.     There  was  no  ventilation. 


268  GREAT   BRITAIN   AND   HER   COLONIES  book  ii 

Fevers  often  raged  among  the  prisoners  and  carried  off  large 
numbers.  The  bright  spot  in  the  poor  man's  existence  was 
the  ample  provision  made  for  paupers.  Indeed,  relief  was  so 
liberally  given  that  it  encouraged  idleness  and  inflicted  an 
exorbitant  poor-rate  on  the  well-to-do.  It  was  not  necessary 
to  enter  the  poorhouse.  To  those  who  could  not  or  would  not 
toil  money  was  given  in  their  own  homes. 

Conscription  was  a  terror  to  the  lowly.  The  army  was  re- 
cruited by  voluntary  enlistment;  but  service  in  the  militia 
was  enforced,  and  the  navy  was  supplied  with  seamen  by  the 
press-gangs.  Many  an  unwary  stroller  was  carried  off  in  the 
night  to  spend  weary  years  upon  a  British  man-of-war.  And 
the  discipline  both  on  shipboard  and  in  the  army  was  brutally 
severe.  Men  were  flogged  till  they  fainted.  Five  hundred 
lashes  Avas  no  uncommon  punishment,  and  death  sometimes 
resulted  from  the  torture. 

Education  was  for  the  rich  and  those  in  comfortable  circum- 
stances. There  was  little  public  instruction.  The  children 
of  the  poor  grew  up  in  ignorance.  Illiteracy  was  so  com- 
mon that  in  some  districts  nearly  half  of  the  men  and  women 
could  not  write  their  own  names.  Contagious  diseases  caused 
widespread  mortality.  Smallpox  was  a  scourge  of  the  poor. 
The  drainage  was  wretched  both  in  city  and  country,  and 
fevers  stalked  through  the  land.  Sanitary  legislation  was  a 
crying  need,  even  though  the  death-rate  was  very  slowly 
diminishing. 

Such  was, the  condition  of  the  poorer  classes  in  England  at 
the  beginning  of  the  century.  In  Scotland  it  was  hardly 
better;  ^  in  Ireland  it  was  even  worse.  Hence  it  was  obvious 
that  reforms  were  urgently  needed  in  Great  Britain  as  well  as 
in  the  countries  of  continental  Europe.  But  the  masses  were 
better  off  in  Great  Britain  than  they  were  in  most  other  coun- 
tries in  that  they  had  a  government  that  took  cognizance  of 
their  wrongs.  iS'ot  in  vain  had  representative  institutions  been 
gaining  ground  for  six  centuries.  While  absolutism  still  held 
its  own  in  many  of  the  European  monarchies,  the  English  Par- 
liament stood  ready  to  uphold  the  rights  of  the  people.  The 
House  of  Commons  was  not  in  close  sympathy  with  the  masses ; 

1  "A  History  of  the  Scotch  Poor  Law,"  by  Sir  George  NichoUs,  pp.  108- 
111;  117-119. 


CHAP.  I         GREAT   BRITAIN'S   POLITICAL   PROGRESS  269 

the  House  of  Lords  not  at  all  so.  Yet  the  Commons  was 
thoroughly  possessed  with  the  English  love  of  liberty,  and  its 
temper,  though  conservative,  was  not  opposed  to  progress.  It 
had  both  the  will  and  tha  power  to  correct  abuses,  and  wherever 
abuses  became  unendurable,  and  were  fully  exposed,  it  showed 
itself  ready  to  correct  tliem.  Hence,  the  political  growth  of 
England  during  the  past  hundred  years  has  been  orderly, 
though  slow.  It  has  not  been  characterized  by  great  leaps  and 
by  repeated  revolutions,  but  it  has  been  the  steady  march  of  a 
liberty-loving  people.  The  workingmen  would  fain  have  had 
their  grievances  righted  more  rapidly,  and  iu  their  impatience 
they  have  sometimes  resorted  to  violence.  But  the  violence 
has  been  easily  suppressed,  and  relief  legislation  has  brought 
one  abuse  after  another  to  an  end. 

But  not  in  the  opening  years  of  the  century  did  the  great 
work  of  reform  begin.  William  Pitt  was  at  this  time  Prime 
Minister,  — a  post  he  had  held  since  1783,  — and,  after  bring- 
ing the  country  into  a  distressing  and  seemingly  a  needless  ^ 
war  with  France,  he  had  seen  his  efforts  to  thwart  Napoleon 
end  in  humiliating  failures.  Anxious,  alert,  and  taxed  to  its 
full  resources,  the  nation  was  in  no  mood  to  think  of  internal 
improvements.  Nor  did  its  King  give  the  smallest  encourage- 
ment to  progress.  Upon  the  throne  sat  the  honest  but  incapa- 
ble and  bigoted  George  III.,  who  opposed  all  liberal  measures, 
and  who  had  not  learned  that  the  sovereignty  belonged  to  the 
people.  He  resisted  his  ministers  when  he  considered  their 
policy  highly  objectionable,  and  they  made  no  attempt  to  coerce 
him.  In  1801  Pitt  was  forced  to  resign  because  George  would 
not  countenance  his  scheme  for  giving  the  Catholics  political 
equality.  It  was  evident,  therefore,  that  the  times  were  not 
yet  ripe  for  reform  legislation.  An  arbitrary  king  and  a 
drastic  war  were  for  some  time  to  prevent  the  redress  of  wrongs. 
Pitt  was  succeeded  by  Addington,  an  incapable  and  narrow 
man,  who  had  none  of  the  qualities  necessary  to  make  a  suc- 
cessful Prime  Minister.  His  one  notable  achievement  was  to 
establish  peace  with  France,  in  1802.  A  respite  from  war  was 
welcome,  but  the  respite  proved  a  very  brief  one.  Napoleon 
was  insolent  and  aggressive,  and  showed  that  he  had  no  inten- 
tion of  living  up  to  the  treaty  of  peace.     So  England  refused 

1  Goldwiu  Smith's  "  Three  English  Statesmen,"  p.  201  et  seq. 


270  GREAT   BRITAIN   AND   HER   COLONIES  book  ii 

to  give  up  Malta,  as  she  had  agreed  to  do,  and  the  war  began 
once  more. 

On  the  eve  of  a  bitter  conflict  the  nation  required  the 
strongest  guidance.  Addington  inspired  no  confidence  and 
gave  way  to  Pitt.  In  the  few  years  that  remained  to  him  Pitt 
did  all  that  he  could  to  crush  Napoleon.  The  French  naval 
power  was  effectually  broken  at  Trafalgar,  in  1805;  but  the 
battle  of  Austerlitz,  in  December  of  the  same  year,  showed 
that  the  victor  of  Marengo  was  as  invincible  as  ever.  Pitt 
was  saddened  and  humiliated  by  the  news  of  this  disaster, 
and  did  not  long  survive  it.  His  death  forced  George  III., 
much  against  his  will,  to  make  Charles  James  Fox  Prime 
Minister;  for  Fox  was  now  the  foremost  statesman  of  Eng- 
land. His  ministry  was  designated  "All  the  Talents,"  as  his 
Cabinet,  instead  of  representing  the  principles  of  a  dominant 
party,  Avas  made  up  from  the  most  eminent  statesmen  and 
politicians  of  the  time.  But  its  existence  was  short-lived,  and 
it  accomplished  little  besides  passing  measures  to  abolish  the 
slave-trade.  It  was  weakened  by  the  death  of  Fox,  who  died 
in  September,  1806;  for  his  successor.  Lord  Grenville,  was  an 
extremely  conscientious,  rather  than  an  able  or  brilliant  man. 
He  roused  the  King's  anger  by  proposing  that  Catholics 
should  be  allowed  to  serve  in  the  army  and  the  navy;  and  the 
people  shared  the  feeling  of  their  narrow-minded  King.  The 
country  was  not  yet  ready  for  religious  toleration.  It  was  dom- 
inated by  Tory  sentiment,  which  was  strongly  anti-Catholic. 

The  ministry  of  All  the  Talents,  accordingly,  came  to  an  end 
in  March,  1807,  and  was  succeeeded  by  one  formed  under  the 
nominal  headship  of  the  Duke  of  Portland.  It  was  a  Tory 
ministry,  and  its  leading  member  was  George  Canning,  at  that 
time  the  most  brilliant  figure  of  the  Tory  party.  He  took  the 
post  of  Foreign  Secretary,  and  he  devoted  himself  to  a  vigorous 
prosecution  of  the  war  with  France.  For  the  war  was  growing 
into  vast  proportions  and  assuming  an  alarming  character. 
Unable  to  invade  and  conquer  England,  Napoleon  struck  at  her 
commerce.  On  November  21,  1806,  he  issued  the  Berlin 
decree,  which  declared  the  British  Islands  in  a  state  of  block- 
ade; prohibited  all  commerce  or  communication  with  them; 
pronounced  all  English  wares  found  in  the  territory  of  France, 
or  in  that  of  her  allies,   liable  to  seizure;  and  closed  French 


CHAP.  I         GREAT   BRITAIN'S   POLITICAL   PROGRESS  271 

ports,  not  only  against  British  vessels,  but  against  all  ships 
that  had  touched  at  a  British  port.  This  tyrannical  manifesto 
had  drawn  forth  from  Lord  Grenville  an  Order  in  Council, 
issued  January  7,  1807.  It  forbade  neutral  vessels  to  enter 
the  ports  of  France  or  of  her  allies  under  penalty  of  seizure 
and  confiscation. 

This  act  of  retaliation  worked  injury  to  France,  but  it  did 
not  give  British  merchants  the  protection  they  craved.  For 
the  carrying  trade  of  the  world  had  begun  to  pass  under  Ameri- 
can control.  A  still  more  vigorous  measure  was  necessary; 
and  Canning,  after  coming  into  office,  did  not  shrink  from  the 
requirements  of  the  situation,  for  he  was  determined  to  pre- 
serve England's  carrying  trade  at  any  cost.  On  November  11, 
1807,  he  issued  a  second  Order  in  Council,  by  which  the  har- 
bors of  France  and  of  her  allies  and  of  every  Continental  state 
from  which  the  English  flag  was  excluded  were  put  in  a  state 
of  blockade ;  and  all  vessels  bound  to  them  were  declared  liable 
to  seizure  unless  they  had  visited  a  British  port.  To  these 
orders  Napoleon  replied  b}'  the  Milan  decree  of  December  17, 
1807,  in  which  he  declared  that  all  vessels  having  any  inter- 
course whatever  with  Great  Britain  or  lier  Colonies  could  not 
be  regarded  as  neutral  and  were  liable  to  seizure. 

The  "Continental  System,"  as  this  scheme  to  annihilate 
England's  commerce  was  termed,  did  not  continue  long.  It 
was  too  arbitrary  and  unnatural  to  endure;  but  while  it  lasted 
it  struck  at  the  poorer  classes  by  greatly  increasing  the  price 
of  imports,  and  caused  suffering  and  discontent.  The  Orders 
in  Council  did  keep  America  from  acquiring  the  carrying  trade 
of  England;  but  in  the  end  they  brought  on  the  foolish  and 
unnecessary  War  of  1812. 

Canning's  vigorous  foreign  policy  greatly  interfered  with 
Napoleon's  plans.  It  was  he  who  advocated  the  British  inva- 
sion of  Spain,  which  did  much  to  undermine  the  French 
Emperor's  power.  But  Canning  retired  from  office  in  1809 
in  consequence  of  a  foolish  duel,  which  for  a  time  placed  him 
under  a  cloud.  The  nation  missed  his  brilliant  services ;  but 
they  were  not  needed  to  bring  about  Napoleon's  downfall. 
England  prosecuted  the  war  with  France  Avith  vigor.  She 
abandoned  Pitt's  policy  of  merely  forming  coalitions  of  the 
Continental  countries  against  France  and  supplying  them  with 


272  GREAT   BRITAIN  AND    HER  COLONIES  book  ri 

money.  Already  had  Canning  suggested  a  more  aggressive 
course;  and  his  ideas  were  carried  out.  English  armies  took 
the  field,  and  England  furnished  the  general  who  was  able  to 
cope  with  Napoleon  himself.  Wellington  again  and  again 
defeated  the  French  armies  in  Spain;  and  to  him  must  always 
belong  the  real  glory  of  the  victory  at  Waterloo. 

The  long  war  came  to  an  end,  and  six  months  before  its  con- 
clusion the  war  with  America  was  also  terminated.  On  De- 
cember 24, 1814,  was  signed  a  treaty  of  peace  between  England 
and  the  United  States.  The  three  years'  struggle  had  not 
settled  all  the  questions  on  which  the  two  countries  were  at 
issue;  but  it  had  at  least  given  England  increased  respect  for 
the  enterprise  and  courage  of  the  young  nation  across  the  sea. 
It  was  not  likely  that  British  men-of-war  would  in  future  im- 
press American  seamen;  nor  could  the  conditions  which  called 
forth  the  irritating  Orders  in  Council  again  arise.  The  mother- 
country  and  the  republic  which  had  sprung  from  her  settled 
their  differences  from  this  time  on  by  arbitration;  and  that 
they  will  always  do  so  seems  reasonably  certain. 

It  was  time  that  peace  should  come,  for  the  years  of  war  had 
brought  England  much  suffering.  Her  debt  had  risen  above 
$4,000,000,000;  her  working-classes  had  undergone  great 
hardships.  Wages  had  indeed  been  high  during  the  war,  but 
their  purchasing  power  had  diminished.  The  prices  of  food 
and  clothing  v/ere  very  high.  Bread,  sugar,  and  tea  were 
heavily  taxed.  The  tax  on  malt  drove  the  people  to  drink 
spirits.  The  tax  on  Avindows  resulted  in  dark  houses  that 
were  a  serious  detriment  to  health.  Salt  was  taxed  forty 
times  its  value;  and  paper  was  taxed  from  a  penn}'  and  a  half 
to  threepence  a  pound.  Sometimes  nearly  half  of  the  poor 
man's  earnings  went  to  the  Government  through  direct  and 
indirect  taxation. 

And  in  addition  to  these  evils  the  British  workingmen  were 
beginning  to  suffer  through  the  introduction  of  machinery. 
Such  suffering  is  always  temporary.  Mechanical  contrivances 
that  multiply  the  power  of  labor  help  no  one  more  than  the 
artisans.  But,  as  hand  labor  is  superseded  by  machinery, 
those  who  have  supported  themselves  by  the  older  method  are 
for  the  time  being  thrown  out  of  employment.  And  so  it  was 
in  England  in  the  early  years  of  the  century.     The  power  loom 


CHAP.  I         GREAT   BRITAIN'S   POLITICAL   PROGRESS  273 

was  supplanting  the  hand  loom.  Cloth  of  all  kinds  was  begin- 
ning to  be  manufactured  by  machinery,  and  the  hand  weavers 
and  spinners  found  their  occupation  gone.  They  were  reduced 
to  poverty  and  even  to  starvation.  Their  misery  engendered 
a  spirit  of  rebellion.  They  begged  help  from  Parliament. 
They  demanded  that  the  use  of  the  new  frames  for  cloth  luanu- 
facture  be  restricted  by  law.  Sometimes  they  broke  into  the 
factories  and  destroyed  the  machinery  to  which  they  attributed 
their  wrongs.  To  those  who  adopted  these  violent  and  riotous 
methods  was  given  the  name  of  Luddites,  because  an  idiot 
named  Ned  Lud  had  once  broken  some  frames  in  a  fit  of  pas- 
sion. These  misguided  artisans  organized  themselves  into 
bands  and  did  their  destructive  work  with  surprising  method 
and  thoroughness.  Before  entering  a  building  known  to  con- 
tain cloth-making  frames,  they  stationed  sentinels  around  it 
to  give  the  alarm.  Then  they  rapidly  demolished  the  obnox- 
ious frames,  and  usually  had  disajjpeared  before  the  police  or 
military  arrived  to  arrest  them.  Their  demonstrations  were 
first  made  toward  the  end  of  the  year  1811.  Continuing  and 
increasing  during  the  following  year,  they  were  met  by  repres- 
sive laws  of  a  very  rigorous  character.  It  was  in  opposing 
these  laws  that  Lord  Byron  made  his  maiden  speech  before  the 
House  of  Lords,  in  1812.  The  severe  punishments  enacted 
against  the  frame-breakers  checked  their  depredations  for  a 
time.  But  the  Luddites  grew  active  again  in  181G,  as  a  ter- 
rible season  of  depression  followed  the  close  of  the  long  war 
with  France. 

Such  outbreaks  were  sure  to  be  remedied  in  time  by  the 
revival  of  prosperity.  But  to  bring  about  such  a  revival  the 
efforts  of  Parliament  were  necessary,  and  many  laws  needed 
to  be  changed  and  modified.  For  legislation  was  shaped  in 
the  interest  of  the  landowners.  It  was  the  men  who  owned 
the  land  that  made  the  laws;  and  they  were  determined  that, 
whatever  else  happened,  their  own  rentals  should  not  be  les- 
sened. A  very  oppressive  corn  law  was  passed  in  1815,  which 
kept  foreign  wheat  out  of  the  country  and  made  the  price  of 
domestic  wheat  exceedingly  high.  Thus  the  farmers  and  the 
landowners  grew  rich,  while  the  poor  found  even  their  daily 
bread  a  luxury. 

But  the  landowners  could  not  go  on  indefinitely  making 


274  GREAT   BRITAIN   AND   HER   COLONIES  book  ii 

laws  for  the  benefit  of  their  own  class.  It  is  the  f mulamental 
principle  of  representative  government  that  the  voice  of  the 
nation  must  be  heard  and  obeyed.  The  wrongs  and  wretched- 
ness of  the  English  people  were  now  beginning  to  find  expres- 
sion. Peace  encouraged  the  discontented  to  make  known  their 
grievances.     The  era  of  reform  was  close  at  hand. 

But  before  the  reforms  which  have  come  in  such  rapid  suc- 
cession through  the  century  are  considered,  the  conditions 
under  which  they  were  brought  about  should  be  thoroughly 
understood.  T^or  they  have  not  come  without  fierce  resistance. 
The  English  temper  is  naturally  conservative;  it  is  rendered 
more  so  by  self-interest.  The  conflict  between  liberal  princi- 
ples and  traditional  belief  in  England  is  one  of  the  most  inter- 
esting features  in  the  history  of  the  nineteenth  century.  In 
studying  this  conflict  the  following  facts  should  be  borne  in 
mind :  — 

I.  England  is  a  democratic  country  with  aristocratic  insti- 
tutions. It  is  democratic,  because  the  will  of  the  people  ulti- 
mately triumphs.  Its  institutions  are  aristocratic,  because  the 
whole  English  social  order  is  founded  upon  privilege.  The 
sovereign  is  no  longer  endowed  with  any  considerable  degree 
of  authority,  but  has  enormous  power  as  the  social  head  of  the 
realm.  Below  the  royal  family  is  the  nobility,  with  its  vary- 
ing degrees  of  rank  and  importance  .according  to  title  and 
antiquity.  Below  the  nobility  is  the  gentry  class,  which 
prides  itself  upon  the  fact  that  it  does  not  work  for  a  sub- 
sistence. Below  the  gentry  is  the  class  of  professional  men. 
Below  them  is  the  middle  class,  showing  various  degrees  of 
cultivation  and  refinement.  And  lowest  of  all  are  the  work- 
ingmen.  But  besides  these  distinctions  are  those  introduced 
by  the  Church  of  England.  For  the  Established  Church  has 
commanded  the  allegiance  of  the  cultivated  classes,  and  those 
who  remain  outside  its  fold  can  receive  little  social  recognition. 
Moreover,  it  dominates  the  two  great  historic  universities, 
Oxford  and  Cambridge.  Thus,  the  aristocracy  of  the  nation 
and  a  powerful  Church  were  arrayed  on  the  side  of  privilege. 

II.  There  have  been  two  leading  political  parties  in  England 
almost  from  the  establishment  of  Parliament.  In  the  latter 
part  of  the  seventeenth  century  the  two  parties  received  the 
respective  names  of  Whig  and  Tory;  the  former  representing 


CHAP.  I        GREAT  BRITAIN^S   POLITICAL  PROGRESS  275 

the  country,  and  the  latter  the  court.  Tliese  names  were  kept 
till  1830,  when  they  were  replaced  by  those  of  Liberal  and 
Conservative.  But  the  term  "  Whig"  was  still  applied  to  the 
more  moderate  and  conservative  Liberals.  Of  these  two 
parties  the  Conservative  has  by  far  the  greater  social  advan- 
tage. The  nobility,  the  Church  of  England,  and  the  gentry 
give  it  their  support.  Representing  privilege,  it  clings  to  the 
established  order  of  things;  and  up  to  the  closing  decades  of 
the  century  it  resisted  progressive  legislation.  It  is  especially 
pleased  Avitli  a  vigorous  foreign  .policy.  In  time  of  war,  it 
usually  conies  to  the  front  and  evinces  a  fervent,  though  some- 
what narrow,  patriotism. 

The  Liberal  party  draws  its  strengtli  from  the  Dissenters, 
and  from  the  thoughtful  minds  among  all  classes  in  the  nation. 
Its  members  do  not  work  in  entire  harmony,  for  its  radical 
element  holds  advanced  views  which  the  moderate  Liberals  do 
not  share.  Yet  to  its  efforts  is  due  most  of  the  reform  legisla- 
tion of  the  century.  It  is  always  in  conflict  with  the  Con- 
servative party;  and  the  result  is  progress. 

III.  Since  the  time  of  George  III.  the  sovereigns  of  Eng- 
land have  exercised  no  direct  influence  upon  legislation,  but 
have  acted  as  constitutional  monarchs.  No  more  does  the 
House  of  Lords  attempt  to  dictate  to  the  people.  What  the 
nation  imperatively  demands,  the  Lords  concede.  Thvis,  both 
the  sovereigns  and  the  peers  of  this  highly  aristocratic  nation 
have  recognized  the  fundamental  principles  of  democracy. 
They  have  recognized  these  principles  because  of  the  strenu- 
ous teachings  of  seven  hundred  years. 

IV.  The  English  statesmen  of  the  nineteenth  century  have 
been  powerful  allies  to  the  cause  of  progress.  Under  their 
leadership  the  nation  could  not  help  moving  forward.  Pitt 
and  Fox  belong  rather  to  the  eighteenth  century  tlian  the 
nineteenth.  But  Canning,  Grey,  Peel,  Russell,  Shaftesbury, 
Briglit,  and  Gladstone  have  exercised  a  mighty  influence  in 
favor  of  liberal  measures.  No  nation  ever  produced  a  nobler 
or  more  gifted  body  of  statesmen.  Their  voices  have  been 
lifted  up,  not  merely  for  country,  but  for  humanity.  Guizot, 
Thiers,  and  Gambetta  lacked  the  moral  elevation  of  these 
great  Englishmen. 

V.  Domestic   progress  is  sometimes  interrupted  by  war. 


276  GREAT   BRITAIN   AND   HER   COLONIES  book  n 

In  spite  of  her  advanced  civilization,  England  has  become 
embroiled  with  petty  powers  several  times  during  the  cen- 
tury, and  once  or  twice  her  strength  has  been  taxed  by  a 
serious  conflict;  and  when  war  comes  domestic  legislation  is 
usually  superseded.  For  a  time  the  fortunes  of  battle  absorb 
the  attention  of  the  nation.  But  when  peace  is  established, 
the  din  of  conflict  is  forgotten  and  the  cause  of  domestic  reform 
once  more  makes  headway. 

It  took  England  some  years  to  rally  from  the  long  war  with 
France  and  to  give  to  internal  affairs  the  attention  they  de 
manded.  After  peace  was  made  in  1815,  there  was  for  a  time 
general  stagnation  in  trade  and  business.  Industries  were 
greatly  affected  by  the  depression.  Factories  were  closed, 
the  foundries  ceased  working,  and  the  demand  for  coal  was 
greatly  lessened.  The  workingmen  found  it  difficult  to  obtain 
employment  and  became  discontented  and  clamorous  for  help. 
In  1819  a  vast  army  of  reformers,  whose  number  has  been 
variously  estimated  at  from  60,000  to  100,000,  met  at  Man- 
chester to  voice  their  grievances.  While  this  immense  body 
of  people  was  listening  to  one  of  its  spokesmen,  il  was  charged 
by  the  cavalry,  and  in  the  crush  that  ensued  two  persons  were 
killed  and  more  than  six  hundred  wounded.  But  such  signifi- 
cant demonstrations  as  this  brought  no  measures  of  relief 
during  the  reign  of  George  III. 


CHAPTER   II 


GEORGE   IV.  —  WILLIAM    IV 


During  the  last  few  years  of  his  life  George  III.  was  blind 
and  insane,  and  the  Prince  of  Wales  was  made  regent  in  1811. 
Upon  his  father's  death,  in  1820,  he  succeeded  to  the  throne 
under  the  title  of  George  IV.  Good-natured,  but  utterly  frivo- 
lous, he  has  been  aptly  spoken  of  by  Thackeray  as  "  nothing 
but  a  coat  and  a  wig  and  a  mask  smiling  below  it  —  nothing 
but  a  great  simulacrum.  ...  I  look  through  all  his  life  and 
recognize  but  a  bow  and  a  grin.  .  .  .  We  cannot  get  at  the 
character;  no  doubt  never  shall."  Naturally  he  was  no  friend 
of  progress,  but  the  growing  energies  of  the  nation  made  reform 
imperative.  England's  policy  both  at  home  and  abroad  now 
began  to  grow  more  liberal  and  humane.  In  1824  some  of  the 
most  severe  restrictions  upon  the  artisan  class  were  removed. 
Laborers  were  enabled  to  go  whither  they  pleased  and  get  the 
highest  possible  remuneration  for  their  services.  The  exporta- 
tion of  machinery  was  allowed.  And  workingmen  were  no 
longer  forbidden  to  combine  for  securing  higher  wages  and 
shorter  hours  of  labor.  Perhaps  this  last  privilege  would  not 
have  been  granted  if  its  full  significance  had  been  understood. 
By  allowing  combinations  the  law  made  trade-unions  possible, 
with  all  their  attendant  benefits  and  evils. 

It  was  in  the  reign  of  George  IV.  that  Canning  again  became 
a  Cabinet  minister,  and,  after  long  years  of  waiting,  found  a 
suitable  opportunity  of  exercising  his  brilliant  talents.  He 
was  made  Foreign  Secretary,  in  1822,  under  Lord  Liverpool ; 
and  his  vigorous  character  and  his  liberal  sympathies  were 
soon  felt  in  European  diplomacy.  He  was  an  uncompromising 
foe  of  the  Holy  Alliance;  he  believed  that  feeble  and  strug- 
gling nations  should  not  be  suppressed  by  despotic  govern- 
ments; and  he  desired  that  England's  vast  power  and  wealth 

277 


278  GREAT   BRITAIN   AND   HER   COLONIES  book  ii 

should  help  civilization  onward  all  over  the  world.  When  the 
Holy  Alliance  planned  to  crush  the  revolution  in  Spain,  in 
1822,  Canning  uttered  a  vigorous  protest.  On  this  occasion 
his  efforts  were  unavailing;  but,  in  1825,  he  caused  England 
to  recognize  the  independence  of  the  rebellious  South  Ameri- 
can States  which  tlie  Alliance  wished  to  bring  into  submission 
to  Spain.  In  1826  he  sent  troops  to  Portugal  to  maintain  the 
legitimate  constitutional  government.  And  throughout  his 
administration  of  foreign  affairs  he  gave  encouragement  to 
Greece  in  her  war  of  liberation  from  the  Turk.  Unhappily  he 
did  not  live  to  see  her  independence  established  by  the  battle 
of  ISTavarino,  on  October  20,  1827.  He  died  on  August  6  of 
that  year,  about  three  months  after  he  had  succeeded  Lord 
Liverpool  as  head  of  the  Cabinet.  His  office  of  Prime  Minis- 
ter fell  to  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  whose  hard  and  narrow 
mind  led  him  to  disapprove  of  Canning's  conduct  of  affairs. 
But  Canning  had  given  to  England's  foreign  policy  a  character 
which  could  not  be  forgotten.  Although  counted  a  Tory,  he 
was  no  true  representative  of  Tory  principles.  Gladstone,  not 
Palmerston^  or  Beaconsfield,  was  his  legitimate  successor. 

Although  Wellington  was  a  consistent  opponent  of  reform, 
he  could  not  resist  the  liberal  tendencies  of  his  time.  In  1828 
the  Protestants  and  Catholics  of  the  realm  found  relief  in  the 
repeal  of  the  Test  Act.  Henceforth  it  was  not  necessary  to 
repudiate  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation  or  to  take  the 
sacrament  from  the  Church  of  England  in  order  to  hold  office 
under  the  Crown.  But  Catholics  were  still  barred  from  sit- 
ting in  the  House  of  Commons;  and  this  disability  was  re- 
moved, in  1829,  by  the  Koman  Catholic  Belief  Bill.  Catholic 
emancipation  had,  indeed,  long  found  advocates  among  the 
liberal  statesmen  of  England.  The  efforts  of  Pitt  and  Gren- 
ville  in  its  behalf  have  been  recorded.  Canning  had  exerted 
all  his  eloquence  in  favor  of  it  in  1812;  and  had  his  career  as 
Prime  Minister  lasted  longer,  he  would  doubtless  have  secured 
its  accomplishment.  Wellington  and  Peel  were  now  the  lead- 
ing statesmen;  and  they  were  both  heartily  opposed  to  the 
emancipation,    as   was    also   the    King.      But   when    Daniel 

1  Palmerston  was  a  Liberal  and  sympathized  with  all  peoples  that  struggled 
for  independence.  But  in  his  foreign  policy  he  aimed,  like  the  Tories,  to 
defend  British  interests  at  any  cost. 


CHAP.    II 


WILLIAM   IV  279 


O'Connell  was  elected  to  a  vacant  Irish  seat  in  Parliament 
from  the  county  of  Clare,  they  saw  that  the  Catholics  could 
no  longer  be  deprived  of  political  freedom.  For  all  Catholic 
Ireland  stood  behind  O'Connell,  and  the  liberal  minds  of  Eng- 
land sympathized  with  him  in  his  struggle.  The  King  aban- 
doned his  scruples,  under  Wellington's  forcible  suggestions, 
and  signed  the  bill. 

Not  long  after  this  George  IV.  died,  unregretted  by  the 
nation,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  brother  William,  in  June, 
1830.  William  was  a  rough,  unpolished  man,  obstinate,  like 
all  the  Georges,  but  right-minded  and  sensible.  His  loyalty 
to  the  Constitution  was  soon  put  to  the  test,  as  the  burning 
question  of  electoral  reform  was  now  before  the  nation  and 
was  demanding  a  speedy  settlement.  It  was,  indeed,  a  mo- 
mentous question  which  the  King  and  the  Parliament  were 
thus  required  to  face.  England  had  long  recognized  the  fun- 
damental principles  of  democracy.  Her  sovereigns  ruled 
simply  by  the  consent  of  their  subjects,  and  one  king  had 
been  beheaded  and  another  dethroned  for  opposing  the  popu- 
lar will.  Even  the  royal  power  of  vetoing  legislation  had 
become  unconstitutional,  and  not  since  the  time  of  Queen 
Anne  had  an  English  sovereign  returned  a  bill  to  Parliament 
with  the  polite  formula  of  disapproval:  Le  Roi  s\ivisera.  But 
if  democracy  —  the  sway  of  the  people  —  had  become  estab- 
lished, if  the  king  was  only  the  servant  of  his  subjects,  why 
should  not  all  of  the  people  have  a  voice  in  the  government? 
Why  should  not  suffrage,  which  alone  makes  a  man  truly  a 
citizen,  be  gradually  extended  to  all? 

Logically  there  would  seem  to  be  but  one  answer  to  these 
questions,  and  that  answer  is  —  universal  suffrage.  If  the 
rule  belongs  to  the  people,  it  shonlil  belong  to  all  the  people 
and  not  to  a  privileged  few.  Either  the  throne  or  the  demos 
is  the  seat  of  power.  There  can  be  no  logical  warrant  for 
stripping  royalty  of  its  prerogatives  and  bestowing  those  same 
prerogatives  upon  a  select  and  favored  class.  Such  would 
seem  to  be  a  fair  presentation  of  the  question  of  popular  sov- 
ereignty, and  yet  this  view  is  not  as  sound  as  at  first  sight  it 
appears.  For  if  all  great  historic  movements  have  a  logical 
outcome,  that  outcome  cannot  always  be  determined  by  exact 
reasoning  and  philosophic  theory.     The  passions,  the  preju- 


280  GREAT   BRITAIN   AND   HER   COLONIES  book  ii 

dices,  and  the  time-honored  customs  of  men  are  powerful  fac- 
tors in  shaping  the  currents  of  history;  and  a  mighty  human 
tendency  will  not  produce  the  same  results  in  every  age  and 
among  every  people. 

No  doubt  the  world  has  been  moving  toward  "  government 
of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  people  "  ever  since 
the  demos  became  all-powerful  at  Athens  more  than  twenty 
centuries  ago.  But  the  movement  has  not  been  an  unbroken 
and  an  uninterrupted  one;  sometimes  all  traces  of  it  seemed 
to  disappear.  And  as  it  has  gathered  strength,  it  has  taken 
manifold  forms  in  different  lands.  In  a  country  where  the 
spirit  of  caste  and  privilege  have  sway,  it  cannot  establish 
a  true  democracy.  Hence,  there  are  many  legitimate  stop- 
ping-places between  Oriental  despotism  and  free  republican 
institutions. 

Now  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  England  is  "  a  demo- 
cratic country  with  aristocratic  institutions"  (p.  274).  For 
more  than  a  thousand  years  the  English  have  been  accustomed 
to  look  up  to  a  titled  class  and  to  bow  before  court  etiquette 
and  strictly  defined  social  distinctions.  This  people,  one  of 
the  proudest,  the  sturdiest,  and  the  freest  in  the  world,  is  yet 
tinged  with  the  spirit  of  subserviency.  Deference  to  superiors 
is  ingrained  in  the  English  nature.  Every  one  but  the  sov- 
ereign himself  has  some  one  to  whom  he  pays  social  homage. 
And  this  spirit  of  deference  and  subserviency  is  in  the  very 
fibre  of  the  English  Constitution.  Taking  shape  gradually 
through  many  centuries,  the  Constitution  has  recognized  the 
vital  traits  of  the  English  character,  as  they  have  revealed 
themselves  in  innumerable  usages,  customs,  and  traditions. 
In  short,  the  Constitution,  even  while  recognizing  the  people 
through  their  representatives  as  supreme,  yet  exalts  the  few 
above  the  many  and  is  moulded  by  the  distinctions  of  title, 
landed  proprietorship,  and  social  privilege.  It  is  designed 
to  place  the  power  in  the  hands  of  a  favored  class,  who,  by 
reason  of  their  superior  advantages  and  their  ownership  of 
the  land,  are  constituted  the  social  and  political  leaders  of  the 
realm. 

Now,  this  being  the  character  of  the  Constitution  and  of  the 
English  social  order,  the  question  of  extending  the  suffrage 
was  a  grave  and  tremendous  one.     How  grave  it   was,  the 


CHAP.  II  WILLIAM   IV  281 

Duke  of  Wellington  and  the  leaders  of  the  Tory  party  well 
appreciated,  and  by  every  legitimate  means  they  opposed  the 
effort  to  increase  the  number  of  voters  in  the  kingdom.  For 
they  saw  in  this  attempt  an  assault  upon  the  fundamental 
character  of  the  Constitution.  They  saw  that  it  would  end  in 
making  Great  Britain  a  democracy  pure  and  simple,  instead  of 
a  country  of  privilege ;  and  upon  democracy  they  looked  with 
abhorrence.  And  it  is  probable,  indeed,  that  this  abhorrence 
would  have  been  intensified  if  they  could  have  foreseen  all 
the  results  that  have  followed  from  the  passage  of  the  Electoral 
Reform  Bill  of  1832.  For,  after  the  franchise  had  once  been 
extended,  it  was  made  more  and  more  inclusive,  until  uni- 
versal suffrage  was  plainly  near  at  hand.  And  with  the 
extension  of  the  franchise  the  partisans  of  democracy  have 
clamored  for  radical  and  sweeping  changes  which  would,  if 
effected,  fundamentally  change  the  character  of  British  gov- 
ernment and  British  society.  For  if  royalty  should  be  swept 
aside,  the  House  of  Lords  abolished,  primogeniture  brought 
to  an  end,  and  government  pass  into  the  hands  of  the  profes- 
sional politician,  the  Great  Britain  of  Chatham,  Burke,  Peel, 
yes,  and  of  Gladstone  also,  would  utterly  pass  away.  With 
the  triumph  of  democracy  would  come  the  ascendency  of  the 
common  people  instead  of  the  leadership  of  the  few. 

All  this  should  be  remembered  in  justice  to  the  Duke  of 
Wellington  and  those  who  followed  his  lead  in  this  great 
national  crisis.  He  is  usually  thought  to  have  headed  a  fac- 
tious opposition  and  to  have  shown  unpardonable  narrowness 
in  resisting  what  was  imperatively  demanded  by  the  nation  at 
large.  But  the  "  Iron  Duke  "  ably  defended  his  own  position 
and  showed  very  clearly  that,  restricted  as  the  suffrage  was,  it 
was  yet  so  bestowed  as  to  reach  more  or  less  directly  every 
class  in  the  kingdom.^  That  its  exercise  was  attended  with 
grave  abuses  could  not  be  denied,  and  those  abuses  the  duke 
would  have  helped  to  do  away  with ;  but  to  remove  abuses  by 
the  introduction  of  what  he  considered  other  and  far  graver 
abuses  roused  his  bitter  and  indignant  opposition. 

But  whether  the  Duke  of  Wellington  was  riglit  or  wrong 
theoretically,  his  position  was  certainly  untenable.  It  was 
untenable  simply   because  the  vast  majority  of  the  English 

1  Fortnightly  Review,  68 :  539. 


282  GREAT   BRITAIN  AND   HER   COLONIES  book  ii 

people  clamored  for  the  changes  which  he  so  stubbornly- 
resisted.  Crying,  indeed,  were  the  abuses  of  the  existing 
electoral  system.  The  members  of  the  House  of  Commons 
obtained  their  seats  largely  through  influence,  favor,  and 
bribery.  Two  thirds  of  them  were  appointed  by  peers  or  other 
influential  persons.  Some  seats  were  openly  offered  for  sale. 
Great  cities  like  Manchester  and  Birmingham  were  entirely- 
unrepresented.  Many  rotten  boroughs  existed,  in  which  there 
was  nothing  that  could  fairly  be  termed  an  election.  It  was 
estimated  that  300  seats  were  under  the  control  of  IGO  persons. 
In  Scotland  the  county  votes  did  not  number  all  told  more 
than  2000 ;  while  the  members  from  the  cities  were  appointed 
by  an  electoral  body  which  was  chosen  by  the  town  council 
and  allowed  to  name  its  successors. 

To  obviate  these  abuses  an  Electoral  Reform  Bill  was 
brought  before  the  Commons,  in  1831,  by  Lord  John  Russell. 
This  eminent  English  statesman  had  already  identified  him- 
self with  the  cause  of  reform  by  his  efforts  in  favor  of  Catholic 
emancipation.  It  was  largely  through  his  exertions  that  the 
Test  Act  was  repealed  and  the  Relief  Bill  passed.  His  liberal 
sympathies  often  placed  him  on  the  side  of  progress,  and  his 
long  parliamentary  career  was  honorable  and  distinguished. 
To  the  cause  of  electoral  reform  he  gave  his  most  enthusiastic 
support  in  the  Lower  House,  as  did  Earl  Grey,  the  head  of  the 
ministry,  in  the  House  of  Lords.  The  provisions  of  the 
Reform  Bill  were  very  moderate.  The  representation  of 
the  rotten  boroughs  was  to  be  taken  away  from  them  and 
given  to  cities;  the  property  qualification  was  to  be  dimin- 
ished so  as  to  give  the  franchise  to  the  well-to-do  middle  class; 
but  the  right  to  vote  Avas  still  withheld  from  the  poor.  But, 
moderate  though  the  bill  was,  it  was  rejected^  by  the  Com- 
mons. Thereupon  Lord  Grey  resigned,  and  Parliament  was 
dissolved.  The  elections  returned  a  majority  in  favor  of 
reform.  Lord  Grey  again  assumed  office;  Lord  Russell's  bill 
was  passed  by  the  House  of  Commons  on  September  21,  1831. 
Rejected  by  the  Lords,  it  was  passed  again  by  the  Commons. 
The  Lords  rejected  it  a  second  time,  and  Lord  Grey  requested 

1  The  bill  passed  to  its  second  reading  by  a  vote  of  302  against  301.  But  a 
majority  of  one  meant  virtual  defeat.  Molesworth's  "History  of  England," 
p.  65  (abridged  edition). 


CHAP.  II  WILLIAM  IV  283 

the  King's  permission  to  appoint  a  sufficient  number  of  new 
peers  to  give  the  bill  a  majority  in  the  Upper  House.  This 
permission  the  King  refused,  and  the  Ministry  resigned.  But 
Wellington,  who  was  asked  by  thd  King  to  form  a  Cabinet, 
found  his  task  impossible.  Lord  Grey  once  more  assumed 
office  with  the  right  to  appoint  new  peers. ^  But  so  radical  a 
measure  was  not  found  necessary.  The  Lords  recognized  the 
uselessness  of  further  resistance  and  passed  the  Reform  Bill 
on  June  7,  1832. 

This  notable  victory  of  the  popular  majority  had  a  profound 
significance.  It  showed  that  public  opinion  was  supreme  in 
England,  in  spite  of  the  restricted  character  of  the  suffrage. 
Indeed,  to  a  certain  degree,  it  justified  the  opinion  of  the  Duke 
of  Wellington ;  for  if  the  people  could  win  so  decided  a  tri- 
umph, even  though  few  of  them  could  vote,  it  might  well  be 
argued  that  they  had  the  power  to  right  their  wrongs  in  their 
own  hands.  Their  will  might  for  a  time  be  resisted  by  the 
conservative  forces  of  the  nation,  but  in  the  end  they  were 
sure  to  obtain  what  they  persistently  desired.  So  legislative 
reform,  thus  significantly  inaugurated,  was  sure  to  go  peace- 
ably forward  until  the  manifold  grievances  of  the  people  were 
one  by  one  redressed. 

The  path  of  reform,  once  entered,  was  for  some  time  reso- 
lutely followed.  But  Lord  Grey  did  not  much  longer  continue 
in  office.  He  was  now  nearly  seventy  years  old.  He  had  led 
the  nation  through  an  important  crisis.  He  had  been  identi- 
fied with  many  good  and  noble  causes  ever  since  he  had  carried 
the  bill  for  abolishing  the  slave-trade,  in  1807.  Not  the  least 
generous  of  his  actions  was  his  espousal  of  the  cause  of  Queen 
Caroline  when  she  was  shamefully  slandered  by  her  husband, 
George  IV.  After  his  long  and  useful  career  the  aged  states- 
man felt  that  he  had  earned  the  right  to  spend  his  last  years 
in  quiet;  and  he  retired  from  public  life  in  1834.  Few 
Englishmen  have  earned  a  more  honorable  place  in  the 
annals  of  the  nation.  His  dignity,  resolution,  and  discre- 
tion brought  about  a  momentous  reform  without  causing  a 
civil  war,  as  rash  leadersliip  might  have  done. 

1  This  right  the  Kiii<;  slanted  in  a  private  interview  with  Lord  Grey  and 
Lord  Broufihani.  But  it  was  tlie  hitter  who  had  the  foresight  and  the  courage 
to  require  the  King  to  give  his  consent  in  writing  over  his  own  signature. 


284  GREAT   BRITAIN  AND    HER   COLONIES  book  ii 

But  Lord  Eussell  and  other  liberal  men  remained  in  Parlia- 
ment to  push  reform  measures  forward.  In  1834  outdoor 
relief  to  paupers  was  discontinued,  and  the  workingmen  made 
thereby  more  self-respecting  and  industrioiis.  In  1835  was 
passed  the  Corporation  Reform  Act,  which  brought  about  a 
great  improvement  in  the  government  of  cities.  Heretofore 
municipal  affairs  had  been  controlled  by  close  corporations. 
The  citizens  of  a  town  had  no  voice  whatever  in  their  own  gov- 
ernment. By  the  act  of  1835  all  the  rate-payers  in  English 
towns  and  cities  were  empowered  to  vote  for  municipal 
officers.^  In  Scotland  the  franchise  was  limited  to  those 
who  could  vote  in  parliamentary  elections.^ 

An  admirable  step  toward  diminishing  ignorance  was  taken 
in  1836,  when  the  tax  of  fourpence  on  newspapers  was  abol- 
ished. The  news  of  the  day  could  now  penetrate  the  dwellings 
of  the  poor  as  well  as  those  of  the  rich.  In  this  same  year  the 
Dissenters  were  partially  relieved  from  the  unjust  and  trying 
exactions  of  the  Established  Church.  The  Church  had  kept 
absolute  control  over  the  services  of  marriage  and  of  burial. 
But  dissenting  clergymen  were  now  allowed  to  conduct  the 
former  ceremony ;  the  latter  was  considered  too  solemn  to  be 
given  into  their  hands. 

Another  injustice  from  which  Dissenters  suffered  was  that 
of  tithes.  Those  who  were  outside  of  the  Established  Church 
had  to  contribute  to  its  support.  By  leaving  the  Church  of 
England  they  lost  many  rights  and  privileges;  yet  they  had 
to  help  the  very  organization  which  took  those  rights  and  privi- 
leges from  them.  The  tax  was  therefore  an  interference  with 
religious  freedom.  Its  abolition  was  proposed  in  1836,  but 
was  not  finally  carried  until  1838.  The  measure  was  Aveak- 
ened  in  its  passage  through  Parliament;  but  the  abuse  was 
much  modified,  though  not  entirely  removed. 

Almost  from  the  beginning  of  the  century  the  most  humane 
members  of  Parliament  had  endeavored  to  mitigate  England's 
severe  penal  code.  Sir  Samuel  Romilly  and  Sir  James  Mack- 
intosh had  been  conspicuous  in  this  work.     The  former  had 

1  For  the  ultimate  effects  of  this  act  consult  Vine's  "Municipal  Institu- 
tions." 

2  For  reforms  in  the  Scotch  municipal  towns  see  W.  Cory's  "  Guide  to  Mod- 
ern English  History,"  II.  357. 


CHAP.  11  WILLIAM   IV  285 

again  and  again  introduced  bills  to  reduce  the  number  of 
capital  offences,  which  were  more  than  two  hundred.  He 
accomplished  little,  however,  as  he  had  to  fight  against  the 
Government,  the  bishops,  and  the  eminent  judges  of  his  day. 
But  the  humane  sentiments  he  uttered  made  their  profound 
impression  on  the  nation;  and  the  work  wliich  he  so  nobly 
advocated  Avent  on  after  his  death.  The  list  of  capital  offences 
was  greatly  abridged,  as  one  crime  after  another  was  stricken 
from  it;  till,  finally,  in  1837,  it  had  been  reduced  from  over 
two  hundred  to  seven. 


CHAPTER    III 

QUEEN    victoria's    REIGN    TO    THE    DEATH    OF    LORD 

PALMERSTON 

William  IV.  was  sixty-five  years  old  when  he  came  to  the 
throne,  and  he  reigned  but  seven  years.  He  died  at  Windsor 
on  June  20,  1837,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  niece  Victoria, 
the  daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Kent.  Hanover  now  became  a 
separate  kingdom,  as  it  could  not  bo  governed  by  a  woman, 
and  passed  under  the  rule  of  the  Duke  of  Cumberland,  the 
fifth  of  the  sons  of  George  III.  Victoria  was  but  eighteen 
years  old  at  her  accession  to  the  throne,  but  her  virtue  and  her 
native  dignity  immediately  won  her  the  heart  of  the  English 
nation.  She  was  married  in  1840  to  her  cousin,  Prince  Albert 
of  Saxe-Coburg  Gotha,  a  man  by  no  means  brilliant,  but  sen- 
sible, right-minded,  and  discreet.  Both  her  public  and  her 
private  life  have  been  wholly  admirable,  and  her  reign  has 
been  one  of  almost  uninterrupted  prosperity.  No  English 
ruler  has  shown  so  full  a  recognition  as  Victoria  of  the  sover- 
eign rights  of  the  people.  She  has  reigned  as  a  constitutional 
monarch,  and  has  never  attempted  to  assert  her  own  will  in 
opposition  to  the  expressed  will  of  the  nation.  Compliance 
with  the  people's  mandates  has  not  always  been  easy.  Her 
political  and  social  preferences  are  strong,  and  she  has  some- 
times been  forced  to  accept  ministers  and  measures  that  were 
extremely  distasteful  to  her.  But  whatever  the  voice  of  the 
nation  has  demanded  she  has  faithfully  executed. 

Reforms  came  rapidly  under  this  liberal-minded  and  consti- 
tutional Sovereign.  In  1839  was  adopted  the  system  of  penny 
postage.  Eormerly  the  dues  upon  letters  were  not  prepaid 
and  the  amount  that  was  collected  uj^on  a  letter  depended  upon 
the  distance  it  was  carried.  Tlie  awkwardness  and  injustice 
of  this  method  attracted  the  attention  of  Sir  Rowland  Hill,  who 

286 


CHAP,  in  QUEEN   VICTORIA'S   REIGN  287 

advocated  uniform  rates  of  postage  and  the  use  of  stamps. 
His  ideas  were  so  novel  that  they  encountered  much  opposition 
at  first;  but  their  adoption  brought  vast  benefit  to  the  people 
and  made  the  management  of  tlie  postal  service  far  more  sim- 
ple and  easy  for  the  Government. 

The  condition  of  the  working-classes  was  further  improved 
in  1843  by  the  efforts  of  Lord  Ashley.  This  earnest  phi- 
lanthropist, who  afterward  became  Lord  Shaftesbury,  has  a 
peculiarly  honorable  place  among  the  reformers  of  this  cen- 
tury. He  was  a  very  intense,  prejudiced,  and  intolerant 
man,  and  his  narrowness  of  mind  prevented  him  from  becom- 
ing a  great  statesman.  But  his  sympathies  were  most 
humane,  and  his  interest  in  the  poor  and  suffering  was  deep 
and  genuine.  He  labored  assiduously  all  his  life  to  improve 
the  condition  of  the  unfortunate,  and  he  became  recognized  as 
the  foremost  philanthropist  of  England.  Through  his  efforts 
the  insane  were  properly  cared  for,  factories  were  carefully 
inspected,  the  hours  of  labor  were  curtailed,  and  working- 
women  and  children  were  protected  from  the  unhappy  effects 
of  industrial  competition.  It  was  in  behalf  of  women  and 
children  that  Lord  Ashley  exerted  himself  in  1843.  He 
secured  the  passage  of  a  bill  by  Avhich  the  employment  of 
women  in  mines  was  forbidden;  and  children  under  ten  years 
of  age  were  not  to  be  employed  at  all.  But  these  and  other 
measures  in  favor  of  the  Avorking-classes  did  not  pass  without 
encountering  serious  opposition.  The  competition  of  other 
European  countries  was  greatly  dreaded.  Even  men  of  liberal 
sympathies  prophesied  that  England  would  lose  her  commercial 
supremacy  if  her  laborers  received  greater  consideration  than 
those  of  other  nations.  But  these  forebodings  have  been 
proved  groundless  by  the  course  of  events.  Labor  is  more 
effective  when  it  is  intelligent,  free,  and  protected  from  drastic 
exertions. 

But  the  time  had  come  when  a  momentous  and  revolutionary 
change  in  England's  commercial  policy  Avas  necessary.  The 
landowners  had  kept  the  value  of  agricultural  products  high 
by  imi)0siiig  taxes  on  imported  articles  of  food.  But  as  Eng- 
land's population  increased,  this  system  became  more  and  more 
oppressive  to  the  laboring  classes.  The  price  of  wheat  was 
kept  so  high  that  bread  was  to  the  poor  man  a  luxury.     Eng- 


288  GREAT   BRITAIN   AND   HER   COLONIES  book  ii 

land's  workingmen  were  but  too  often  ill  fed  and  destitute. 
The  country  was  sacrificing  the  class  upon  which  its  prosperity- 
depended.  No  wonder,  then,  that  a  fierce  agitation  against 
the  Corn  Law  was  begun. 

The  leader  in  the  movement  for  free  trade  was  Kichard 
Cobden.  His  tracts  were  circulated  all  over  the  land,  John 
Bright  gave  him  able  assistance;  and  the  Anti-Corn-Law 
League  won  hosts  of  converts  by  its  ceaseless  exertions.  The 
feeling  against  protection  became  so  strong  that  Sir  Eobert 
Peel,  the  head  of  the  Conservative  Government,  was,  in  1842, 
obliged  to  modify  the  duty  on  corn  and  to  lighten  or  abolish  the 
duty  on  seven  hundred  and  fifty  other  imported  articles.  But 
Peel  was  pledged  to  support  the  landed  interest,  and  only  the 
force  of  circumstances  converted  him  to  free  trade.  In  1845 
the  potato  crop  in  Ireland  failed,  and  the  grain  crops  of  Scot- 
land and  Ireland  were  short.  The  nation  had  to  choose  between 
famine  and  free  corn.  Peel  was  humane  enough  and  Avise 
enough  to  see  that  the  Corn  Laws  were  doomed.  He  advocated 
their  repeal ;  but  some  of  his  Cabinet  were  obdurate,  and  he 
resigned.  But  no  other  statesman  was  equal  to  the  crisis. 
So  he  was  recalled,  and  the  obnoxious  laws  were  repealed  in 
the  face  of  fierce  opposition  and  forebodings  of  national  dis- 
aster. Peel  had  saved  his  country,  but  in  doing  so  he  had 
incurred  the  enmity  of  his  party.  The  Tories  could  not  forgive 
him  for  abandoning  the  principles  he  was  placed  in  power  to 
defend;  and  after  a  time  they  succeeded  in  overthrowing  him. 
But  since  his  death  his  countrymen  have  done  full  justice  to 
his  memory.  His  position  was  a  trying  one,  but  he  would  not 
have  been  a  true  patriot  had  he  done  otherwise  than  he  did. 
He  was  not  a  man  of  genius  or  of  great  foresight.  More  than 
once  he  resisted  needed  reforms.  But  in  the  massiveness  of 
his  character,  in  the  breadth  of  his  intellect,  and  in  his  un- 
flinching discharge  of  duty  he  embodied  the  best  traits  of  the 
English  mind  and  temper. 

The  duty  on  corn  being  removed,  other  taxes  on  imports 
were  one  by  one  abandoned.  England  became  more  and  more 
committed  to  free  trade.  One  protected  interest  after  another 
was  deprived  of  government  support,  and  taxes  were  finally 
imposed  for  revenue  only.  The  Navigation  Laws,  which  im- 
posed ingenious  restrictions  on  the  shipping  of  other  nations, 


CHAP,  ni  QUEEN   VICTORIA'S   REIGN  289 

were  abolished,  though  not  without  some  difficulty.  And  the 
tax  on  sugar,  intended  to  protect  British  planters  in  the  West 
Indies,  whose  product  was  admitted  at  a  very  low  rate,  was 
modified.  Free  trade  has  not  benefited  all  classes  in  England 
equally.  Under  its  worKings  the  landlords  and  farmers  have 
seen  their  incomes  diminish  alarmingly,  and  they  have  often 
sighed  for  the  good  old  days  of  protection.  But  the  commercial 
prosperity  of  the  nation  is  directly  due  to  its  free-trade  policy. 
By  admitting  raw  materials  free  of  duty,  England  enables  her 
manufacturers  to  produce  their  wares  with  the  utmost  possible 
cheapness,  and  to  find  a  market  for  them  all  over  the  world. 
Realizing  this,  her  statesmen  resolutely  frown  upon  all  at- 
tempts to  revive  protection,  in  spite  of  the  discontent  of  the 
farmers  and  the  impoverished  country  squires. 

Not  even  free  trade,  however,  could  at  once  bring  the  suffer- 
ings and  hardships  of  the  workingmen  to  an  end,  and  the  dis- 
content which  had  long  existed  among  the  English  laborers 
caused  an  alarming  agitation  in  1848.  For  it  was  in  that  year 
that  the  famous  Chartist  movement  forced  itself  upon  the 
attention  of  the  country,  and,  for  a  short  time,  assumed  a  com- 
manding importance.  The  movement  had  been  founded  ten 
years  earlier,  when  six  members  of  the  House  of  Commons 
held  a  conference  with  representatives  of  the  AVorkingmen's 
Association,  and  demanded  six  important  reforms  in  a  docu- 
ment known  as  The  Peoj^Ws  Charter.  The  reforms  were: 
(1)  annual  parliaments;  (2)  universal  suffrage;  (3)  the  bal- 
lot; (4)  abolition  of  the  property  qualification  for  a  seat  in 
the  House  of  Commons ;  (5)  payment  of  members  of  the  House 
of  Commons ;  (6)  the  apportionment  of  electoral  districts  by 
population.  From  the  first  the  movement  gained  ground 
among  the  workingmen,  and  in  1848  the  nation  realized  that 
it  had  become  widespread  and  formidable.  For,  influenced 
largely  by  the  revolutions  that  were  disturbing  Europe,  the 
members  of  the  Chartist  organization  now  took  an  aggressive 
and  threatening  attitude.  They  met  for  military  drill;  they 
listened  to  incendiary  speakers ;  and  they  announced  tliat,  on 
the  tenth  of  April,  500,000  men  would  meet  in  London,  on 
Kensington  Comnaon,  to  march  in  procession  and  present  a 
monstrous  petition  to  Parliament.  The  petition  was  said  to 
contain  6,000,000  signatures;  and  the  Government  was  so  far 
u 


290  GREAT   BRITAIN  AND   HER   COLONIES  book  ii 

alarmed  that  it  forbade  the  procession  and  took  extraordinary 
precautions  to  preserve  the  peace.  But  when  the  day  came 
round,  only  50,000  men  assembled  instead  of  500,000,  and  the 
petition  was  found  to  contain  less  than  2,000,000  genuine  sig- 
natures. So  the  attempted  demonstration  proved  a  fiasco,  and 
with  the  return  of  prosperity  the  Chartist  movement  lost  its  sig- 
nificance. Yet  it  was  not  organized  in  vain,  for  of  the  reforms  it 
demanded  some  have  been  granted  wholly  or  in  part,  while  the 
others  are  even  now  advocated  by  the  Radicals  of  the  kingdom. 

Some  evidence  of  England's  prosperity  was  given  by  the 
industrial  exhibition  of  1851.  This  was  the  first  of  those 
colossal  exhibits  which  have  attracted  the  attention  of  the 
world  and  have  powerfully  stimulated  arts  and  manufactures. 
It  was  undertaken  at  the  suggestion  of  the  Prince  Consort, 
and  was  held  in  the  Crystal  Palace,  especially  constructed  for 
the  purpose.  The  variety  and  brilliancy  of  the  exhibit  called 
forth  universal  admiration;  and  the  project  was  successful 
from  every  point  of  view.  Unlike  some  that  have  succeeded 
it,  it  more  than  paid  for  itself. 

In  the  following  year  occurred  an  event  which  calls  for 
special  mention  and  which  caused  profound  sorrow  throughout 
the  English  nation.  On  September  14,  1852,  the  Duke  of 
AVellington  died  at  the  age  of  eighty-three.  He  was  greater 
as  a  soldier  than  as  a  statesman;  yet  even  in  peace  his  profound 
respect  for  law,  his  moral  dignity,  and  his  sturdy  sense  had 
been  of  much  service  to  his  country.  The  victor  of  Waterloo 
will  always  be  remembered  as  one  of  the  greatest  of  English- 
men. 

The  triumphs  of  industry  and  of  domestic  progress  were 
mingled  with  victories  of  a  sterner  kind.  Eor  England  has 
had  much  stormy  and  tumultuous  experience  during  Victoria's 
reign.  Her  widespread  dominions  easily  bring  her  into  con- 
flict. For  she  has  to  keep  in  order  the  races  she  has  subju- 
gated, and  to  maintain  her  frontiers  against  aggression. 
Sometimes  the  conquest  of  one  province  leads  to  that  of  a 
neighboring  one  and  then  to  still  others  adjoining,  in  order 
that  unruly  tribes  may  not  be  hovering  about  her  borders, 
ready  to  disturb  the  peace.  And  the  very  vastness  of  Eng- 
land's power  is  a  source  of  temptation.  It  excites  the  desire 
of  bringing  new  tracts  under  her  civilizing  sway;  and  it  also 


CHAP,  in  QUEEN   VICTORIA'S   REIGN  291 

occasions  distrust  and  suspicion  of  other  nations  that  push 
their  own  conquests  rapidly  forward.  More  tiian  one  unjust 
and  needless  war  has  disgraced  England's  annals  during  the 
nineteenth  century.  Afghanistan,  India,  China,  various  por- 
tions of  Africa,  and  other  countries  have  been  the  scenes  of 
bloody  conflicts  between  England  and  her  civilized  or  savage 
opponents. 

Peculiarly  jealous  and  sensitive  has  Great  Britain  been  re- 
garding her  Indian  possessions.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
century  her  conquest  of  India  was  by  no  means  complete,  and 
she  has  engaged  in  several  wars  with  a  view  to  extending  and 
strengthening  her  rule  over  the  Indian  races.  In  1824  she 
began  the  conquest  of  Burma  and  annexed  portions  of  that 
formidable  empire.  In  1839  she  attempted  to  get  control  of 
Afghanistan,  for  the  advance  of  the  Bussians  into  Asia  occa- 
sioned alarm.  It  was  believed  by  many  that  Kussia  could 
easily  invade  India  by  occupying  the  Afghan  territory;  so 
England  determined  to  forestall  her  by  taking  possession  of 
that  important  strategic  country.  But  the  attempt  only  ended 
in  disaster.  British  troops  occupied  Kabul;  but  in  January, 
1842,  nearly  4000  soldiers  and  1200  camp  followers,  after 
retiring  from  that  city,  were  cut  down  almost  to  a  man  in  the 
Khyber  Pass.  And  though  the  massacre  was  avenged,  the 
country  was  evacuated.  Better  success  attended  the  attempt 
to  subjugate  new  tracts  in  India.  There  was  much  fighting 
between  the  English  and  the  natives  from  1843  to  1853,  as  a 
result  of  which  Sind,  the  Panjab,  and  Pegu  in  Burma  were 
brought  under  British  rule. 

The  conquest  of  India  led  to  a  war  with  the  neighboring 
empire  of  China.  Hostilities  first  broke  out  in  1840  owing  to 
a  difficulty  on  the  opium  question;  but  after  Canton  was  cap- 
tured and  Nanking  threatened,  the  Chinese  consented  to  a 
treaty  of  peace,  which  opened  some  of  their  principal  cities  to 
the  British.  Thus  the  traffic  in  opium,  to  which  China  had 
objected,  was  thoroughly  established.-'  But  in  1856  an  outrage 
perpetrated  on  a  British  vessel  in  Canton  River  led  to  a  second 

1  Much  censure  has  been  visited  upon  this  traffic  and  upon  England  for 
insisting  upon  its  establishment;  and  the  criticism  is  well  grounded,  though 
there  is  something  to  be  said  upon  the  other  side  of  the  question.  NhiPtecnth 
Century,  11:  iJ42  and  403;  Saturday  Review,  54:331;  Vontemporai'y  Review, 
74:121. 


292  GREAT  BRITAIN   AND   HER   COLONIES  book  ii 

war.  Canton  was  taken  by  the  British  in  1857 ;  and  the  Peace 
of  Tientsin  was  made  in  1858.  The  Chinese  granted  freedom 
of  trade  and  protection  to  Christians,  and  agreed  to  bear  the 
expenses  of  the  war.  This  treaty,  however,  was  not  kept.  So, 
in  1860,  the  English  and  French  nndertook  a  joint  expedition 
against  China  and  brought  her  to  terms.  Peking  was  threat- 
ened, and  a  new  peace  was  conckided,  by  which  harbors  were 
opened  and  freer  communication  with  European  states  was 
established. 

This  war  with  a  vast  but  sleepy  Oriental  state  never  assumed 
an  alarming  character.  But  the  struggle  with  Russia  was 
much  more  serious.  Trouble  with  Russia  first  arose  in  1853; 
on  jNIarch  28,  1854,  the  Crimean  War  was  declared.  It  was  a 
conflict  that  appealed  to  the  English  national  pride,  for  its 
object  was  to  cripple  Russia  and  prevent  her  from  advancing 
on  Constantinople.  Hence,  the  English  were  led  into  the  war 
by  very  much  the  same  feelings  that  caused  them  to  invade 
Afghanistan :  in  order  to  make  that  country  a  barrier  against 
Russian  advance  upon  India.  None  the  less  the  war  was  a 
mischievous  one  and  utterly  uncalled  for.  It  accomj^lished  no 
good  whatever.  It  encouraged  the  Turk  to  feel  that  England 
would  protect  him  in  his  career  of  barbarity  and  crime;  and  at 
a  critical  period  it  committed  England  to  an  evil  and  mistaken 
policy.  Eor  at  this  time  England  was  probably  strong  enough 
to  coerce  the  Turk,  and  force  him  to  rule  with  decency  or  to 
abdicate.  It  is  possible  that  she  could  have  worked  with 
Russia  to  bring  about  that  end.  The  Russian  Chancellor, 
Nesselrode,  heartily  believed  in  an  alliance  with  England  and 
had  endeavored  to  bring  such  an  alliance  about;  and  the 
Emperor  Nicholas  shared  his  views  upon  this  matter.  But  the 
Emperor  suffered  from  brain  disease  in  the  closing  years  of  his 
life,  resented  opposition,  and  seemed  unable  to  adhere  to  a 
single  line  of  policy.  His  contradictions  made  it  difficult  to 
work  with  him  rather  than  against  him;  the  English  suspicion 
and  jealousy  of  Russia  made  cooperation  with  him  practically 
impossible.  So  England  listened  to  the  evil  suggestions  of 
Napoleon  III.,  and  espoused  the  cause  of  the  Turk  instead  of 
uniting  with  Russia  to  keep  him  in  order.  The  result  was  a 
bloody  war  and  an  estrangement  with  Russia  which  has  never 
been  removed.     And  now,  at  the  close  of  the  century,  England, 


CHAP.  Ill  QUEEN   VICTORIA'S   REIGN  293 

the  only  European  power  humane  enough  to  arrest  the  Turk  in 
his  brutal  career,  no  longer  has  the  strength  to  do  so.  Ger- 
many and  Austria  have  a  vital  interest  in  the  disposition  of 
Constantinople ;  and  they,  as  well  as  Russia,  would  resist  any 
attempt  on  the  part  of  England  to  settle  the  pestiferous  Eastern 
Question. 

So  the  war  policy  prevailed  in  spite  of  the  protests  of  some 
manly  and  noble-minded  Englishmen.  John  Bright  denounced 
the  war  in  no  measured  terms,  but  his  grave  and  lofty  utter- 
ances ^  were  treated  as  the  delusions  of  a  mere  theorist  who 
had  no  understanding  of  the  practical  side  of  national  politics. 
The  war  was  begun,  but  at  first  it  was  most  inefficiently  man- 
aged. Lord  Aberdeen  was  the  English  Prime  Minister.  He 
was  not  a  man  of  great  ability ;  moreover,  he  was  not  heartily 
in  favor  of  the  war.  He  did  not  prosecute  it  with  energy,  and 
very  soon  came  complaints  that  the  troops  were  not  properly 
clothed,  fed,  and  sheltered.  The  London  Times  "  thundered  " ; 
the  Ministry  resigned.  Lord  Palmerston  was  called  on  to  form 
a  Cabinet,  and  under  his  vigorous  administration  England 
recovered  her  military  prestige.  Russia  was  humiliated  and 
the  Ministry  was  popular.  None  the  less  Lord  Palmerston's 
influence  upon  English  politics  was  by  no  means  wholly  good. 
Arrogant  and  self-willed,  he  had  already  been  censured  by  the 
Queen  for  his  headstrong  course  as  Foreign  Secretary ;  for  he 
had  not  hesitated  to  embarrass  the  Government  by  the  rash 
expression  of  his  individual  opinions.  But  keenly  though  he 
felt  the  royal  rebuke,  he  did  not  drop  his  hauteur  of  manner 
and  his  insolent  disdain  of  his  political  opponents.  The 
criticisms  of  men  like  Bright  he  treated  with  contempt,^  and 

1  "  Let  it  not  be  said  that  I  am  alone  in  my  condemnation  of  this  war  and  of 
this  incapable  and  guilty  administration.  And,  even  if  I  were  alone,  if  mine 
were  a  solitary  voice,  raised  amid  the  din  of  arms  and  the  clamors  of  a  venal 
press,  I  should  have  the  consolation  I  have  to-nij^ht  —  and  which  I  trust  will 
be  mine  to  the  last  moment  of  my  existence  —  the  priceless  consolation  that 
no  word  of  mine  has  tended  to  promote  the  squandering  of  my  country's 
treasure  or  the  spilling  of  one  single  drop  of  my  country's  blood." —  "  Speeches 
by  the  Right  Hon.  John  Bright,  M.P.,"  edited  by  James  E.  Thorold  Rogers, 
p.  24(i. 

2  Yet  Lord  Palmerston  must  have  winced  sometimes  under  John  Bright's 
vigorous  thrusts.  In  defending  tlie  Crimean  War,  Lord  Palmerston  had  the 
audacity  to  assert  that  the  Turks  had  improved  within  the  past  twenty  years 
more  than  any  other  nation  in  Europe,  knowing  well  that  this  statement  did 


294  GREAT   BRITAIN   AND   HER    COLONIES  book  ii 

liis  mocking  and  defiant  attitude  did  not  lend  dignity  to  the 
debates  of  the  House  of  Commons.^  But  for  a  number  of 
years  after  the  outbreak  of  tlie  Crimean  War  he  was  recognized 
as  the  foremost  statesman  of  England.  He  was  Prime  Minis- 
ter from  1855  to  1858  and  from  1859  to  1865.  In  his  earlier 
life  he  was  a  Tory;  but  his  humane  sympathies  led  him  after 
a  time  into  the  Liberal  party.  For  he  disliked  the  Holy 
Alliance,  and  he  believed  that  the  weaker  nations  of  Europe 
should  be  allowed  to  win  their  freedom  and  to  establish  con- 
stitutional governments  without  being  thwarted  by  the  stronger 
powers.  So,  naturally,  he  sympathized  with  Napoleon  III.  in 
his  efforts  to  free  Italy  from  Austrian  rule;  and  he  would 
have  protected  Denmark  from  Austria  and  Prussia  in  1864,  if 
he  could  have  secured  the  active  cooperation  of  other  powers. 
His  interference  in  European  politics  was  not,  therefore,  with- 
out its  beneficial  effects.  But  he  lent  his  support  to  the  "un- 
speakable Turk";  and  his  foreign  policy  lacked  breadth  and 
marked  him  rather  as  an  astute  diplomatist  than  as  a  states- 
man of  the  loftiest  aims.  He  was  no  true  representative  of 
English  liberalism.  He  turned  the  thoughts  of  the  nation 
away  from  peaceful  progress;  and  he  died  at  an  advanced  age 
without  having  left  any  enduring  monument  to  win  for  him 
the  gratitude  of  his  country. 

The  Crimean  War  was  stern  and  bloody;  it  was  soon  fol- 
lowed by  one  which  shook  England  to  its  very  centre.  In  the 
spring  of  1857  occurred  the  Sepoy  Mutiny,  wliich  at  once  as- 
sumed alarming  proportions.  It  arose  partly  from  the  dislike 
of  the  native  soldiers  for  the  greased  cartridge  required  by  the 
Enfield  musket.  But  the  greased  cartridge  was  the  occasion 
rather  than  the  cause  of  the  rebellion.  Widespread  disaffec- 
tion toward  the  English  existed  among  the  Indian  troops,  and 
their  mutinous  spirit  was  increased  by  their  great  numerical 
superiority  over  the  English   soldiers.      There  were   in  the 

not  apply  to  the  Christians  under  Turkish  rule,  though  he  meant  to  give  the 
impression  that  it  did.  Mr.  Bright  thereupon  accused  him  of  "a  disingenu- 
ousness  which  I  should  be  ashamed  to  use  in  argument."  —  Speech  on  the 
"Enlistment  of  Foreigners  Bill"  (already  quoted  from  on  the  preceding 
page). 

1  Lord  Palraerston  was  an  Irish  peer,  and  preferred  to  be  elected  to  the 
House  of  Commons  than  to  represent  Ireland  in  the  House  of  Lords.  For  not 
all  Irish  peers  can  sit  in  the  House  of  Lords,  but  only  a  certain  number  (twenty- 
eight)  ,  who  are  elected  for  life  by  their  fellow-peers. 


CHAP.  Ill  QUEEN   VICTORIA'S   REIGN  295 

Indian  army  230,000  Sepoys  and  only  40,000  Europeans. 
Naturally,  therefore,  the  natives  thought  they  could  free 
themselves  from  a  rule  which,  for  all  its  benefits,  they  never 
loved.  Regiment  after  regiment  of  Sepoys  nuitinied,  and 
soon  nearly  100,000  soldiers  were  m  revolt.  It  was  dithcult 
for  the  English  to  quell  the  uprising  promptly,  for  they  had 
to  act  over  a  large  territory  with  an  insufhcient  force  of  men. 
Fortunately  for  tliem  the  principal  native  princes  remained 
loyal.  Had  it  been  otherwise,  the  whole  country  would  have 
had  to  be  reconquered. 

Even  as  it  was,  the  English  found  their  task  a  most  formi- 
dable one.  The  rebels  captured  some  strongliolds  and  invested 
others  that  were  rescued  with  difficulty.  The  heroic  defence 
of  Lucknow  has  become  famous  in  history;  and  Havelock, 
who  relieved  it,  and  Sir  Henry  Lawrence,  who  was  killed 
while  defending  it,  are  counted  among  the  heroes  of  the  Eng- 
lish nation.  A  still  higher  place  was  given  to  Lord  Jolm 
Lawrence,  whose  wise  rule  and  remarkable  foresight  undoubt- 
edly kept  the  Panjab  from  joining  the  mutiny. 

English  valor  and  discipline  triumphed  over  every  obstacle. 
In  a  few  months  the  revolt  was  practically  quelled,  though  it 
took  some  time  to  stamp  out  all  the  sparks  of  rebellion.  ]>ut 
the  atrocities  committed  by  the  Sepoys  were  frightful  beyond 
description.  They  had  no  respect  for  age  or  sex,  and  the 
sufferings  they  inflicted  upon  women  and  children  made  the 
English  thirst  for  vengeance  deep  and  terrible.  l>ut  for 
the  firm  refusal  of  Lord  Lawrence,  the  Taj  at  Agra  would 
have  been  razed  to  the  ground;  and  how  some  of  the  ring- 
leaders of  the  mutiny  were  blown  from  the  mouths  of  cannon 
is  a  well-known  story.  Awful  as  this  punishment  seems,  it  is 
hardly  to  be  condemned  on  the  score  of  cruelty,  for  the  death 
itself  was  a  j)ainless  one.  It  Avas  planned  simply  to  teach  an 
impressive  lesson ;  for  the  bodies  thus  scattered  to  the  wind 
could  not  be  reunited,  and  to  the  sensuous  mind  of  the  Hindu 
this  meant  the  destruction  of  the  soul.  But  it  is  hard  to  jus- 
tify such  an  outrageous  contempt  for  tlie  religion  of  a  subject 
people;  and  the  act  was,  moreover,  a  political  mistake.  It 
served  to  deepen  the  sulhm  resentment  of  the  Hindus  toward 
their  English  masters  —  a  resentment  which  may  again  burst 
forth  into  a  lurid  and  dcstnictive  flame. 


296  GREAT    BRITAIN   AND    HER    COLONIES  book  ii 

After  the  Sepoy  rebellion  was  ended,  and  peace  was  finally 
made  with  China,  no  wars  of  consequence  occurred  for  a  num- 
ber of  years.  England  was  free  to  consider  domestic  affairs ; 
but  for  some  time  no  important  reforms  were  carried  through. 
Lord  John  Russell  had  long  been  anxious  to  extend  the  fran- 
chise, and  had  brought  in  a  bill  to  secure  that  end  in  1854. 
But  the  measure  failed  to  pass.  Nor  was  this  reform  any  more 
successful  when  advocated  by  the  short-lived  Conservative 
Ministry  of  Lord  Derby,  in  1858,  or  by  Lord  John  Russell  in 
his  excellent  bill  presented  in  1860.  Even  the  most  progres- 
sive nation  cannot  continue  in  the  path  of  reform  without 
respite  or  cessation;  and  after  repealing  the  Corn  Laws,  Eng- 
land might  well  pause  and  survey  the  beneficial  changes  she 
had  made  through  the  preceding  quarter  of  a  century.  The 
years  between  1850  and  1865  were  years  of  growth  and  expan- 
sion under  the  new  conditions  created  by  the  radical  legisla- 
tion of  earlier  years.  The  country  was  somewhat  tired  of 
reforms.  What  it  needed  was  to  reap  the  full  benefit  of  those 
already  made.  Moreover,  the  succession  of  exciting  events 
that  began  with  the  Crimean  War  absorbed  the  attention  of 
the  nation.  Not  long  after  the  Sepoy  mutiny  was  suppressed 
came  the  war  in  North  Italy  waged  by  Napoleon  III.  against 
Austria;  and  this  struggle  Avas  watched  with  eager  interest  by 
the  English  people.  And  hardly  had  this  conflict  been  de- 
cided, when  the  American  Civil  War  began,  and  gave  the 
English  Government  grave  questions  to  consider  and  to  settle. 
Lord  Palmerston's  sympathies  lay  with  the  South  rather  than 
the  North,  as  did  those  of  many  prominent  Englishmen  of 
both  parties.  Hence  there  was  a  strong  feeling  in  favor 
of  recognizing  the  Southern  Confederacy.  The  better  sense 
of  the  nation  prevented  such  an  act  of  hostility  toward  the 
American  Union;  but  to  the  end  of  the  war  the  Cabinet  had  to 
face  troublesome  problems  regarding  its  proper  attitude  toward 
the  two  belligerents.  In  1861  occurred  the  irritating  Trent 
Affair,  so  called  because  the  envoys  of  the  Confederacy,  Mason 
and  Slidell,  were  forcibly  taken  from  the  British  steamer 
Trent  by  an  Amerian  man-of-war.  England  at  once  prepared 
to  make  war  on  the  United  States,  but  the  prompt  restoration 
of  the  envoys  by  President  Lincoln  took  away  all  pretext  for 
resorting  to  arms.     On  this  occasion  the  Prince  Consort  used 


CHAP.  Ill  QUEEN   VICTORIA'S   REIGN  297 


his  influence  to  restrain  and  modify  the  excited  British  feeling, 
and  his  good  offices  won  for  him  the  respect  and  regard  of  the 
American  people.  They  as  well  as  the  English  deeply  mourned 
his  untimely  death,  which  occurred  at  the  close  of  1861. 

The  blockade  of  the  ports  of  the  Confederacy  by  the  United 
States  navy  also  caused  great  irritation  in  England.  For 
through  this  blockade  the  English  factories  were  deprived  of 
cotton,  large  numbers  of  workmen  were  thrown  out  of  employ- 
ment, and  much  suffering  was  caused.  The  Government, 
therefore,  was  under  a  strong  pressure  not  to  recognize  the 
blockade,  especially  as  it  was  imperfectly  maintained,  owing 
to  the  vast  extent  of  coast  which  the  United  States  gunboats 
had  to  watch.  Neutrality  was  however  preserved  in  this 
matter,  but  not  in  preventing  Confederate  cruisers  from  being 
constructed  and  manned  in  English  ports.  The  steamships 
Florida  and  Alabama  were  both  made  for  the  Confederacy  at 
Birkenhead  by  an  English  firm,  and  were  allowed  to  sail  forth 
on  their  destructive  mission,  though  the  Government  was  fully 
warned  of  their  character  by  the  American  minister  at  London. 
They  did  enormous  damage  to  American  commerce,  and  gave 
the  United  States  ground  for  preferring  against  England  the 
famous  Alabama  Claims. 


CHAPTER  IV 

MR.   GLADSTONE,  LORD   BEACONSFIELD.  RECENT    EVENTS 

Much  to  the  relief  of  England,  the  American  Civil  War 
ended  in  1865,  and  on  October  18  of  the  same  year  occurred 
the  death  of  Lord  Palmerston.  With  the  passing  away  of  this 
contentious  character  began  a  new  interest  in  reform.  Lord 
Russell  was  made  Prime  Minister,  and  Mr.  Gladstone,  whose 
commanding  abilities  had  long  been  recognized,^  became  the 
Liberal  leader  in  the  House  of  Commons.  The  cause  which 
was  so  dear  to  Lord  Russell  now  seemed  likely  to  succeed.  A 
moderate  bill  to  reform  the  franchise  was  brought  forward  by 
Mr.  Gladstone,  but  it  was  defeated  by  the  efforts  of  his  politi- 
cal opponent,  Mr.  Disraeli.  This  was  a  sore  disappointment 
to  Lord  Russell.  He  resigned,  and  abandoned  the  hope  of 
being  himself  the  means  of  accomplishing  this  reform  which 
he  had  so  often  advocated.  He  never  again  held  office,  but 
as  a  member  of  the  House  of  Lords  he  continued  for  some 
time  to  take  an  active  interest  in  politics.  Somewhat  lacking 
in  political  sagacity  and  balanced  judgment,  he  had  not  the 
qualities  of  a  leader.  Greatness  of  mind  and  character 
hardly  belonged  to  him;  he  did  not  grow  with  his  times,  and 
before  his  death  his  liberalism  represented  the  views  of  a  past 
generation.^  But  for  fifty  years  he  gave  his  country  valu- 
able service,  and  the  laws  of  England  are  more  humane  and 
enliglitened  because  of  his  parliamentary  career. 

After  Lord  Russell's  resignation  Lord  Derby  was  for  the 

1  In  particular  Mr.  Gladstone's  skill  in  linance  was  little  short  of  marvel- 
lous. He  handled  the  dry  facts  of  revenue  and  expenditure  so  as  to  give  them 
a  genuine  fascination. 

2  His  speech  in  the  House  of  Lords  on  the  secret  ballot,  July  8,  1S72,  is  a 
carious  presentation  of  antiquated  ideas.  See  "Wagner's  Modern  Political 
Orations,"  p.  158. 

298 


CHAP.  IV  MR.    GLADSTONE  299 

third  time  called  to  form  a  Cabinet.  Mr.  Disraeli,  the  most 
brilliant  figure  among  the  Conservatives,  led  his  party  in  the 
House  of  Commons.  Unscrupulous,  shrewd,  and  boundlessly 
ambitious,  he  was  always'  ready  to  do  the  thing  that  would 
bring  success;  and  he  now  had  the  effrontery  to  carry  through 
the  reform  which  he  had  just  pronounced  revolutionary  and 
had  defeated.  He  presented  a  more  radical  measure  for  lower- 
ing the  franchise  than  Mr.  Gladstone  had  advocated,  and  it 
was  passed,  Lord  Derby  giving  it  his  consent  rather  than  his 
support.  By  its  provisions  suffrage  was  bestowed  on  all  male 
householders  in  boroughs  who  were  taxed  for  the  relief  of  the 
poor,  and  on  all  persons  in  the  counties  who  owned  property 
that  yielded  an  annual  return  of  £5  or  who  paid  rental  of  £12. 
The  distribution  of  parliamentary  seats  was  also  made  more 
fair;  towns  with  less  than  10,000  inhabitants  that  had  two 
members  of  Parliament  lost  one  of  them,  and  a  third  member 
was  granted  to  M'anchester,  Liverpool,  Birmingham,  and  Leeds. 
Altogether,  the  measure  was  as  liberal  a  one  as  the  country 
was  then  prepared  for;  but  it  was  by  no  means  a  final  settle- 
ment of  the  suffrage  question. 

The  Eeform  Bill  was  passed  on  August  15,  18G7.  Before  the 
year  was  ended,  England  was  drawn  into  one  of  those  petty 
wars  which  she  has  had  to  undertake  so  often  during  the  cen- 
tury. Theodore,  King  of  Abyssinia,  had  imprisoned  English 
officials  and  missionaries,  and  it  was  apparent  that  force  alone 
would  effect  their  release.  An  armed  expedition  was  therefore 
sent  from  Bombay  to  invade  his  country  and  bring  him  to 
terms.  This  it  succeeded  in  doing  under  the  vigorous  leader- 
ship of  Sir  R.  Napier.  The  prisoners  were  set  free,  and  the 
defeated  and  humiliated  ruler  shot  himself  rather  than  fall 
into  the  hands  of  tlie  nation  he  had  so  insolently  defied. 

About  the  same  time  the  Fenian  agitators,  who  liad  been 
more  or  less  active  since  1858,  gave  trouble  in  Ireland  and  on 
the  Canadian  border.  In  18(56  they  crossed  the  Niagara  into 
Canada,  and  were  not  repressed  without  bloodshed.  In  1867 
they  occasioned  several  outbreaks  in  Ireland,  and  large  num- 
bers of  them  were  arrested,  tried,  and  convicted  of  treason. 
The  movement  was  not  in  itself  dangerous,  but  it  was  signifi- 
cant as  revealing  the  dee])-seated  discontent  of  the  Irish  peojde. 
The  Fenian  oath  called  on  the  brotherhood  "  to  free  and  regen- 


300  GREAT   BRITAIN  AND   HER    COLONIES  book  ii 

erate  Ireland  from  the  yoke  of  England."  All  the  violence 
and  the  outrages  of  the  Irish  Land  League  were  foreshadowed 
by  this  earlier  agitation. 

Lord  Derby  retired  from  office  on  February  25,  1868,  and 
Mr.  Disraeli  was  made  the  head  of  the  Cabinet.  His  minis- 
try, however,  was  of  short  duration.  On  November  11  of  the 
same  year  Parliament  was  dissolved,  and  the  Liberals  gained 
a  large  majority  in  the  elections.  This  meant  that  Mr.  Glad- 
stone, was  to  be  Prime  Minister;  for  he  was  now  beyond 
question  the  foremost  statesman  of  his  party.  Like  Lord  Pal- 
merston,  he  had  begun  his  political  career  as  a  Tory;  but  his 
interest  in  reform  did  not  allow  him  to  continue  with  a  party* 
that  resisted  progress.  He  was  now  fifty-nine  years  old,  but 
he  was  in  the  full  vigor  of  his  powers,  and,  unlike  Lord  Rus- 
sell, he  was,  even  after  passing  middle  life,  amply  able  to  grasp 
and  assimilate  new  ideas.  Hence,  as  long  as  he  remained  in 
politics,  he  continued  to  lead  his  party  in  the  truest  sense  of 
the  word.  He  did  not  allow  it  to  rest  upon  its  laurels,  but 
continually  forced  it  to  take  new  and  higher  ground. 

Mr.  Gladstone's  term  of  office  began  on  December  9,  1868. 
On  March  1,  1869,  he  brought  in  a  bill  for  the  disestablish- 
ment of  the  Irish  Church,  and  not  without  difficulty  secured 
its  passage  through  both  Houses.  The  bill  was  aimed  at 
crying  abuses,  for  a  population  chiefly  Catholic  was  obliged  to 
support  a  Protestant  Church;  and  the  very  endowments  by 
which  that  Church  was  maintained  had  once  belonged  to  the 
Catholics.  But  the  measure  attacked  an  arrogant  and  power- 
ful organization,  and  it  excited  the  anti-Catholic  feeling  which 
is  so  deeply  rooted  in  the  English  mind.  After  the  Church 
was  disestablished  her  bishops  were  no  longer  able  to  sit  in 
the  House  of  Lords  or  to  receive  their  appointment  from  the 
Crown;  her  clergy  could  not  obtain  their  support  from  the 
public  revenues,  though  the  life  interest  of  existing  clergymen 
was  duly  provided  for;  and  her  endowments  were  to  be  used 
for  the  good  of  Ireland  after  all  just  claims  upon  them  had 
been  paid.  The  sum  realized  from  the  endowments  was  not 
as  large  as  Mr.  Gladstone  expected  it  to  be,  but  it  amounted 
to  about  $50,000,000. 

But  other  reforms,  far  more  important  than  the  disestab- 
lishment of  the  Church,  were  demanded  by  the  Irish  people. 


CHAP.  IV  MR.    GLADSTONE  301 

For  the  condition  of  Ireland  was  as  deplorable  as  it  was  when 
the  Act  of  Union  was  passed  in  1800  (p.  267).  Indeed,  her 
wrongs  dated  back  to  the  year  1177,  when  Henry  II.  invaded 
her  shores  and  received  the  submission  of  her  princes.  Since 
that  time  the  distracted  country  had  met  with  little  but  cruelty 
and  injustice  at  the  liands  of  its  conquerors.  The  English 
ruled  Ireland  with  sole  regard  to  their  own  interests,  confis- 
cated her  lands,  brutalized  her  peasantry,  and  punished  insur- 
rection with  fire  and  sword  (p.  267).  Prostrate  and  bleeding, 
her  people  submitted  to  hateful  laws  Avhich  they  were  power- 
less to  evade.  Those  laws  that  were  most  oppressive  to  the 
Catholics  were  modified  or  changed;  but  nothing  was  done  for 
the  Irish  tenant,  whose  condition  was  a  most  unhappy  one. 
He  could  be  ejected  at  his  landlord's  will;  the  improvements 
he  made  upon  his  holding  could  be  appropriated  by  his  land- 
lord; and  his  rent  was  often  increased  because  of  these  very 
improvements  which  he  had  made  and  which  had  rendered  the 
holding  more  valuable.  Moreover,  many  landlords  made  their 
homes  in  England,  never  seeing  their  tenants,  but  submitting 
them  to  the  merciless  exactions  of  dishonest  agents. 

Under  these  hard  conditions  the  Irish  peasants  could  not 
thrive.  They  lived  in  poverty  and  misery,  and  their  discon- 
tent grew  deeper  the  longer  their  sufferings  continued  unre- 
lieved. When  the  crops  failed,  famine  overtook  them  and 
drove  them  out  of  the  country  in  great  numbers.  The  potato 
famine  in  1845  caused  a  wholesale  emigration,  and  the  popu- 
lation soon  diminished  from  8,000,000  to  6,500,000.  This 
exodus  brought  relief,  but  those  who  were  unwilling  to  emi- 
grate still  suffered  from  the  unjust  land  laws  and  answered 
injustice  by  crime.  But  the  remedy  for  crime  was  coercion, 
and  again  and  again  in  the  course  of  the  century  lias  England 
placed  Ireland  under  military  law.  More  than  forty  coercion 
acts  for  Ireland  were  passed  by  the  British  Parliament  between 
1801  and  1887.  But  coercion  was  in  no  true  sense  a  remedy 
for  Irish  agitation.  It  silenced  discontent,  but  it  did  not  heal 
it.  What  the  Irish  peasants  craved  was  justice,  and  even  jus- 
tice failed  to  satisfy  them  at  last,  so  long  was  it  withheld. 
The  peasant  brooded  over  his  wrongs.  He  reflected  that  the 
land  had  once  belonged  to  his  ancestors  and  had  been  taken 
from  them  by  force.     He  therefore  learned  to   regard  it  as 


302  GREAT   BRITAIN   AND    HER    COLONIES  book  ii 

riglitfully  his  own,  and  he  determiuetl  to  regain  possession  of 
it  if  possible.  A  deep  longing  for  national  independence  was 
taking  hold  of  his  mind. 

But  relief  from  the  oppressive  land  laws  was  the  first  step 
necessary.  Three  things  the  Irish  peasants  demanded  to 
relieve  their  distress  —  fixity  of  tenure,  fair  rent,  and  free  sale 
of  improvements.  These  demands  were  termed  the  three  F's, 
and  they  commended  themselves  to  Mr.  Gladstone's  sense 
of  justice.  In  a  very  imperfect  manner  the  three  F's  were 
embodied  in  the  Irish  Land  Bill  of  1870,  which  was  Mr.  Glad- 
stone's first  attempt  to  redress  the  wrongs  of  the  Irish  tenant. 
As  time  showed,  it  was  not  a  very  satisfactory  bill.  It 
offended  the  landlord  and  it  did  not  sufficiently  relieve  the 
tenant.  Yet  it  marked  in  a  very  striking  manner  the  change 
of  attitude  which  England,  under  Mr.  Gladstone's  lead,  was 
learning  to  take  toward  the  Irish  people.  For  besides  grant- 
ing, however  imperfectly,  the  three  F's,  the  bill  contained  pro- 
visions for  enabling  tenants  to  buy  their  farms  from  the  owners 
of  them  by  small  annual  payments  extending  over  thirty-five 
years,  two  thirds  of  the  purchase  money  to  be  advanced  by  the 
State.  Thus,  it  was  fully  recognized  that  Ireland  had  griev- 
ances which  coercion  could  not  cure.  Yet  even  Mr.  Gladstone 
was  not  ready  to  accept  Home  Eule;  nor  was  it  distinctly 
advocated  in  Parliament  during  his  first  administration.  But 
the  Home  Rule  spirit  was  steadily  growing  at  this  time.  The 
Irish  people  had  conceived  such  a  thorough  mistrust  of  English 
justice,  that  they  longed  for  the  right  to  manage  their  own 
affairs.  And  although  their  leaders  at  first  professed  entire 
loyalty  to  the  Empire,  it  became  apparent  before  many  years 
that  Home  Rule  was  by  many  Irishmen  considered  a  step 
toward  a  separate  national  existence.^ 

1  In  the  general  elections  that  were  held  in  Februarj%  1874  (p.  30i),  the 
Home  Rulers  obtained  (iO  seats  out  of  the  103  that  belonged  to  Ireland  in 
the  National  Parliament.  Accordingly,  their  leader,  Isaac  Butt,  felt  justified 
in  demanding  Home  Rule  for  Ireland,  which  he  did  in  a  speecli  delivered  in 
Parliament  on  March  20,  1874.  But  in  the  following  sentence,  and  in  others 
almost  equally  empliatic,  he  denied  that  he  and  his  followers  wished  to  make 
Ireland  an  independent  nation:  "I  believe  I  speak  for  every  member  who 
has  been  returned  for  Ireland  on  the  Home  Rule  principle  when  I  say  that 
we  repudiate,  in  the  strongest  terms,  the  slightest  wish  to  break  np  the  unity 
of  tlie  Empire,  or  to  bring  about  a  collision  l)etween  England  and  Ireland." 
Similarly,  Mr.  O'Brien  says,  in  his  "Fifty  Years  of  Concessions  to  Ireland" 


CHAP.  IV  MR.    GLADSTONE  303 

Other  enligliteiietl  measures  besides  his  efforts  in  behalf  of 
Ireland  distinguished  Mr.  Gladstone's  administration.  After 
long  negotiation  between  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States, 
the  Alabama  Claims  were  finally  settled,  in  1872,  by  a  court 
of  arbitration  which  met  at  Geneva.  The  amount  awarded  to 
the  United  States  was  a  little  over  fl5,000,000,  and  was 
promptly  paid.  The  purchase  system  in  the  army  was  abol- 
ished, and  the  wealthy  were  no  longer  able  to  buy  commis- 
sions for  their  sons.  Naturally  the  Lords  resisted  this  reform 
very  fiercely;  for  the  peers  expected  the  army  to  furnish  a 
career  for  tlieir  younger  sons,  who  were  often  too  devoid  of 
talent  or  training  to  secure  an  army  appointment  by  merit. 
But  the  Queen  threatened  to  create  new  peers,  and  the  Lords 
gave  way.  A  great  protection  to  the  voter  was  afforded  by 
the  adoption  of  the  secret  ballot,  in  1872.  The  system  then 
adopted  by  the  Parliamentary  and  Municipal  Elections  Bill  is 
practically  the  same  that  is  known  in  A.merica  as  the  Austra- 
lian Ballot  system.  Such  a  system  seems  to  be  necessary  in 
all  countries  that  have  an  extended  suffrage,  in  order  that  the 
poor  may  cast  their  vote  without  intimidation.  Mr.  Gladstone 
also  gave  his  attention  to  educational  affairs.  Such  religious 
tests  as  still  remained  at  the  Universities  of  Oxford  and  Cam- 
bridge were  removed;  steps  were  taken  toward  opening  the 
schools  to  all  and  making  attendance  compulsory.  This  was 
a  much  needed  refoi'm;  for  education  had  been  largely  in  the 
hands  of  the  Established  Church,  and  it  was  by  no  means  free 
to  all.  But  the  nation  was  still  to  wait  many  years  for  a  fully 
developed  and  complete  system  of  national  education. 

But  the  nation  wearied  of  Mr.  Gladstone's  tireless  pace  as  a 
reformer.  His  majority  in  the  House  of  Commons  dwindled. 
In  March,  1873,  he  was  defeated  in  attempting  to  pass  a 
bill  granting  better  educational  advantages  to  the  Irish.  He 
resigned,  but  assumed  office  again  when  Mr.  Disraeli  declined 
to  form  a  ministry.     But  in  January,  1874,  the  Queen,  at  his 

(II.  427),  "The  masses  of  the  Irish  people  are  dispdsed  to  be  loyal  to  the 
English  connection;  .  .  .  they  appreciate  its  value  and  desire  its  preserva- 
tion." But  the  truth  of  these  utterances  may  be  questioned.  They  are 
contradicted  by  the  violent  deeds  and  the  rancorous  expressions  of  the  peas- 
antry, many  of  whom  are  filled  with  bitter  hatred  toward  England,  ami 
do  not  hesitate  to  avow  opinions  which  their  leaders  consider  it  impolitic  to 
publish. 


304  GREAT   BRITAIN   AND   HER   COLONIES  book  ii 

suggestion,  dissolved  Parliament.  The  elections  showed  a 
Conservative  majority  of  about  fifty,  and  Mr.  Disraeli  came 
into  power. 

This  adroit  politician  had  no  thought  of  keeping  the  nation 
in  the  path  of  domestic  progress.  He  thorouglily  understood 
the  temper  of  the  Conservative  party,  and  he  was  determined 
to  win  its  entire  devotion  by  a  showy  and  dazzling  foreign 
policy.  Yet  some  minor  reforms  were  accomplished  ere  home 
questions  were  abandoned  in  favor  of  the  more  imposing  inter- 
ests of  empire.  Church  patronage  was  abolished  in  Scotland. 
Laws  were  passed  to  check  the  practices  of  the  ritualists  of 
the  Established  Church.  Above  all,  through  the  exertions  of 
Mr.  Plimsoll,  British  seamen  were  protected  from  serving  in 
"floating  coffins,"  as  unseaworthy  and  overloaded  vessels  were 
called.  But  such  matters  as  these  were  to  Mr.  Disraeli  tame 
and  uninteresting.  He  wished  to  strengthen  and  extend  the 
British  Empire,  and  to  impress  the  world  with  a  sense  of  its 
greatness.  With  this  object  in  view  he  had  the  title  Empress 
of  India  bestowed  upon  Queen  Victoria;  and  the  Prince  of 
Wales  visited  India,  in  1875,  to  show  the  splendor  and  mag- 
nificence of  English  royalty. 

For  a  long  time  England  had  suspected  Kussia  of  designs 
upon  her  Indian  possessions,  and  this  suspicion  Disraeli  used 
adroitly  to  further  his  imperial  scheme.  He  took  the  ground 
that  Eussia  was  England's  natural  enemy.  Russian  advance 
upon  India  must  be  prevented;  the  long-established  policy  of 
supporting  the  Turk  as  a  barrier  to  Russian  aggression  must 
be  maintained.  Accordingly,  when  tlie  Turkish  atrocities  in 
Bulgaria,  in  1875,  caused  universal  indignation,  Disraeli  and 
the  Conservatives  made  light  of  them;  and  Russia's  attempt 
to  reduce  the  Turk  to  submission  only  excited  their  hostility. 
In  vain  did  Mv.  Gladstone  expose  the  horrible  barbarities  of 
the  Turk.  He  roused  the  moral  sentiment  of  the  English 
people,  but  he  could  make  no  impression  on  the  Conservative 
majority  in  the  House  of  Commons.  The  Conservatives  sym- 
pathized with  the  Turk  rather  than  with  Russia;  and  when 
Turkey  was  thoroughly  vanquished,  they  wished  to  prevent 
Russia  from  reaping  the  fruits  of  victory.  In  1878  a  congress 
met  at  Berlin  to  settle  the  questions  that  had  arisen  from  the 
Russo-Turkish  War.     Lord  Beaconsfield   (Mr.    Disraeli    had 


LORD   BEACONSFIELD  305 

been  created  Earl  of  Beaconslield  in  187G),  accompanied  by 
Lord  Salisbury,  attended  it  to  represent  England's  interests; 
and  there  he  did  everytliing  he  could  to  protect  Turkey  and 
humiliate  Russia.  He  kept  Eastern  Rumelia  under  Turkish 
suzerainty,  thus  establishing  the  Balkans  as  Turkey's  northern 
boundary  against  the  wish  of  the  other  powers;  he  accepted 
the  Turkish  promises  to  make  reforms  and  to  grant  religious 
liberty  as  if  they  were  really  made  in  sincerity;  and  by  a 
secret  agreement  with  Turkey  he  secured  for  England  the  con- 
trol of  Cyprus,  though  the  island  was  still  to  be  regarded  as 
an  integral  part  of  the  Turkish  Empire. 

Returning  to  England  from  the  Berlin  Congress,  Lord  Bea- 
conslield announced  that  he  brought  back  "peace  with  honor." 
His  reception  was  enthusiastic.  He  had  become  the  idol  of 
his  party.  He  therefore  adhered  to  his  showy  imperial  policy 
and  allowed  it  to  involve  England  in  several  costly  and  unjus- 
tifiable wars.  Ever  since  the  disaster  of  the  Khyber  Pass,  in 
1842,  England  had  cultivated  friendly  relations  with  Afghan- 
istan, with  a  view  to  keeping  that  country  out  of  Russian 
control.  This  wise  policy  Lord  Beaconsfield  reversed.  He 
deliberately  picked  a  quarrel  with  the  Afghans  toward  the  end 
of  1878,  and  forced  that  unfortunate  people  into  a  war  of  self- 
defence.  Their  country  was  overrun  with  British  troops. 
Their  Ameer  abdicated,  leaving  the  land  a  prey  to  anarchy. 
They  were  forced  to  submit  to  British  rule.  The  British  took 
possession  of  the  important  stronghold  of  Herat;  and  Lord 
Beaconsfield  triumphantly  announced  that  England  commanded 
"the  great  gates  to  India."  But  the  moral  sense  of  the  Eng- 
lish nation  had  been  shocked  by  this  wicked  war,  in  which 
$80,000,000  had  been  squandered  and  50,000  lives  thrown 
away.  The  policy  which  had  caused  this  waste  of  men  and 
money  was  to  receive  a  crushing  rebuke  in  the  approaching 
elections. 

The  war  with  the  Transvaal  in  South  Africa  had  no  better 
excuse  than  that  with  Afghanistan.  The  Transvaal  is  a 
republic  containing  about  50,000  Dutch  Boers  and  1,000,000 
negroes.  In  its  vicinity  were  three  other  European  States, 
Cape  Colony  and  Natal  under  British  rule,  and  tiie  Orange 
Free  State,  which,  like  the  Transvaal,  was  independent.  It 
was  Lord  Beaconsfield's  policy  to  unite  all  these  States  into  a 


306  GREAT   BRITAIN   AND   HER   COLONIES  book  k 


confederation,  and  to  this  end  the  Transvaal  was  annexed  to 
England  in  1877.  True,  the  annexation  was  called  for  by  a 
few  of  the  Boers;  but  the  President  and  the  popular  Assembly 
of  the  Republic  protested  against  it.  Finding  their  protests 
of  no  avail,  they  took  up  arms  for  their  independence,  in  1879. 
They  proved  themselves  valiant  iighters;  and  when  the  Liber- 
als came  into  power  they  had  to  consider  whether  the  strength 
of  England  should  be  used  to  crush  this  brave  little  people. 

The  same  policy  that  tried  to  annex  the  Transvaal  brought 
on  a  conflict  with  the  friendly  Zulus.  To  carry  out  the  plan 
of  confederation,  England  purchased  Delagoa  Bay  from  Por- 
tugal for  $.3,000,000,  and  coveted  Lucia  Bay  to  the  south  of 
it,  which  the  Zulus  owned.  Their  chief,  Cetewayo,  had 
always  shown  a  liking  for  the  English.  None  the  less  Sir 
Bartle  Frere,  who  had  been  sent  to  South  Africa  to  carry  out 
Lord  Beaconsfield's  schemes,  made  war  upon  him.  Cete- 
wayo's  country  was  invaded  toward  the  end  of  1878,  but  the 
English  had  underrated  their  savage  antagonist.  They  met 
with  one  or  two  disasters,  and,  in  1879,  Sir  Garnet  Wolseley 
was  sent  to  South  Africa  to  subdue  the  defiant  chief.  He  soon 
succeeded.  Cetewayo  was  captured,  and  the  Zulu  war,  after 
costing  over  $20,000,000,  was  broughb  to  an  end. 

In  spite  of  severe  arraignments  by  Mr.  Gladstone  and  others, 
Lord  Beaconsfield  kept  his  majority  in  the  House  of  Commons. 
But  early  in  1880  Parliament  was  dissolved,  and  the  Conserva- 
tives were  overwhelmingly  defeated  in  the  elections.  In  the 
new  House  of  Commons  there  were  but  240  Conservatives 
against  342  Liberals  and  63  Home  Rulers.  In  this  striking 
manner  did  the  nation  express  its  condemnation  of  Lord  Bea- 
consfield's imperial  policy  with  its  wicked  waste  of  blood  and 
treasure. 

Mr.  Gladstone  had  abandoned  the  leadership  of  the  Liberal 
party,  after  retiring  from  office  in  1874.  But  the  election 
meant  that  the  country  demanded  his  guidance,  and  no  one 
else  would  have  been  able  to  form  a  Cabinet.  He  was  made 
Prime  Minister  for  the  second  time;  but  his  task  was  not  an 
easy  one.  The  British  troops  were  to  be  withdrawn  from 
Afghanistan,  —  a  step  made  necessary  by  English  feeling,  yet 
none  the  less  galling  to  the  national  pride.  The  claim  of  the 
Boers  was  to  be  faced.     Egyptian  affairs  were  assuming  a 


CHAP.  IV  RECENT   EVENTS  307 

troublesome  aspect.  The  Irish  were  clamoring  for  further 
relief;  and  various  measures  of  domestic  reform  were  urgently 
demanded. 

Mr.  Gladstone's  government  did  net  shrink  from  these 
troublesome  questions.  In  spite  of  the  protests  of  the  Indian 
army  officers,  the  English  troops  were  withdrawn  from  Afglian- 
istan.  The  Transvaal  was  restored  to  the  Boers,  even  tliough 
they  had  just  inflicted  a  signal  defeat  upon  the  British  at 
Majuba  Hill.  According  to  England's  traditional  policy,  a 
victorious  enemy  must  be  humbled  before  peace  can  be  ukuU; 
with  him.  But  to  his  lasting  honor  Mr.  Gladstone  granted 
the  Boers  their  independence  (subject  to  England's  suzerainty 
in  negotiations  with  foreign  powers)  without  first  attempting 
to  wipe  out  the  disgrace  of  defeat  by  a  needless  victory.  But 
Egyptian  and  Irish  affairs  were  not  thus  easily  settled.  Even 
at  the  close  of  the  century  they  still  wait  for  a  permanent 
solution. 

The  Irish  question  assumed  a  new  aspect  in  1876.  In  that 
year  the  Irish  members  of  Parliament  who  advocated  Home 
Rule  formed  themselves  into  a  solid  phalanx,  and  aggressively 
demanded  the  redress  of  their  country's  wrongs.  Their  leader 
was  Charles  Stewart  Parnell,^  a  man  of  intrepid  courage,  rare 
organizing  ability,  and  first-rate  power  in  debate.  His  control 
over  his  followers  was  absolute.  Under  his  direction  the 
Home  Rulers  acted  as  one  and  became  a  formidable  body  of 
obstructionists  in  Parliament.  But  during  Lord  Beaconsfield's 
rule  they  accomplished  little  besides  making  themselves  a 
nuisance  to  both  parties.  When  Mr.  Gladstone  came  into 
power,  their  prospects  brightened.  That  he  would  do  some- 
thing to  relieve  the  Irish  peasantry  seemed  certain.  Yet  it 
was  some  time  before  he  was  ready  to  grant  the  demands  of 
the  Home  Rulers.  The  Irish  were  distressed  and  unfortunate, 
but  they  were  also  lawless.  Agrarian  crime  seemed  to  be  in- 
creasing. The  peasants  murdered  their  landlords  and  maimed 
their  cattle.  The  Irish  Land  League,  founded  by  Mr.  Parnell 
in  1879,  did  not  try  to  suppress  these  outrages,  and  it  encour- 
aged the  tenant  to  avoid  paying  his  rent  by  every  possible 
means.     This  condition  of  affairs  naturally  inclined  even  a 

1  Mr.  Isaac  Butt  was  the  nominal  leader  of  the  Irish  Liberals  till  1879,  and 
William  Shaw  fur  a  short  time  after  tliat. 


308  GREAT   BRITAIN   AND   HER   COLONIES  book  ii 


Liberal  Government  to  employ  force  to  suppress  disorder;  and 
this  inclination  was  strengthened  by  the  famous  Phoenix  Park 
tragedy,  that  occurred  in  1882.  On  May  6  of  that  year  Lord 
Frederick  Cavendish,  Chief  Secretary  of  Ireland,  and  liis 
assistant,  Mr.  Burke,  were  murdered  in  Phcenix  Park,  at  Dub- 
lin, by  Irish  assassins.  The  crime  caused  intense  indignation 
throughout  England,  and  the  leaders  of  the  Land  League  felt 
called  upon  to  denounce  it.  Even  so,  Mr.  Gladstone  consid- 
ered that  the  state  of  Ireland  called  for  martial  law.  A  severe 
Coercion  Act  was  passed,  and  the  knife  of  the  assassin  was  met 
by  the  bayonet  of  the  constabulary.  But  justice  as  well  as 
force  was  meted  out.  The  Land  Law  of  1870  had  failed  to 
bring  much  relief,  because  tenants  could  contract  themselves 
out  of  its  operation ;  and  that  they  often  did  so  contract  them- 
selves at  the  instigation  of  their  landlords  was  a  natural  con- 
sequence. Moreover,  the  sales  of  land  to  tenants  under  the 
provisions  of  this  act  had  not  been  extensive.  Mr.  Gladstone 
accordingly  brought  in  a  new  and  more  sweeping  measure  in 
1881.  To  tenants  wishing  to  buy  their  holdings  it  advanced 
three  fourths  of  the  purchase  money;  and  courts  were  estab- 
lished to  regulate  rents  and  prevent  them  from  becoming 
excessive. 

But  these  liberal  concessions  did  not  win  Mr.  Gladstone  the 
support  of  Parnell  and  his  followers.  The  Home  Rulers  in 
Parliament  were  made  angry  by  the  Coercion  Act,  which  they 
bitterly  opposed  when  it  was  passed  through  Parliament. 
And  some  of  them  came  into  direct  collision  with  the  Govern- 
ment; for  the  Land  League,  to  which  they  all  belonged, 
adopted  such  violent  methods  of  agitation  that  it  was  pro- 
nounced illegal.  Parnell  himself  was  for  a  time  lodged  in 
jail.  But  gradually  jNIr.  Gladstone's  views  upon  the  Irish 
question  underwent  a  change.  He  saw  that  violence  was  not 
cured  by  force,  and  he  lost  his  faith  in  coercion.  He  secured 
the  repeal  of  the  drastic  act  of  repression  which  he  had 
believed  necessary;  and  as  time  passed  he  learned  to  regard 
conciliation  as  the  only  means  of  keeping  Ireland  loyal  to  the 
Empire. 

Tlie  origin  of  the  troubles  in  Egypt  seemed  to  date  back  to 
the  construction  of  the  Suez  Canal.  Lord  Palmerston  had, 
with  remarkable  foresight,  seen  that  England  would  inevitably 


CHAP.  IV  RECENT   EVENTS  309 

become  the  largest  owner  of  the  canal,  and  would  thereby  be 
led  into  undesirable  complications  in  regard  to  Egyptian 
affairs.  He  was  therefore  heartily  opposed  to  the  construc- 
tion of  the  canal,  not  realizing  its  strategic  importance. 
Exactly  what  he  prophesied  came  to  pass.  In  1875  the  shares 
in  the  canal  owned  by  the  Khedive  of  Egypt  were  purchased 
by  the  British  Government.  From  this  time  on  England  had 
a  vital  interest  in  the  canal,  and  hence  in  Egypt.  And  this 
interest  was  increased  when  British  capitalists  lo?.ned  money 
again  and  again  to  the  moribund  Egyptian  Government.  The 
interest  on  the  loans  was  not  paid;  and  England  assumed  con- 
trol of  Egyptian  finances  in  order  to  protect  its  bondholders.' 
Finance  cooperated  with  England  in  the  matter;  but  the  Ji^gyp- 
tians  took  it  hard  that  their  revenues  should  be  managed  by 
foreign  powers.  In  1882  Arabi  Pasha,  the  Egyptian  Minister 
of  War,  headed  a  revolt  against  the  English  and  French  s\i- 
premacy.  His  party  raised  the  cry,  "  Egypt  for  the  Egyp- 
tians," and  for  a  time  showed  itself  formidable.  It  even 
ventured  to  attack  the  English  fleet  which  was  lying  off  Alex- 
andria; and,  on  July  11,  1882,  Alexandria  was  bombarded  by 
the  English  and  reduced  to  submission.  Two  months  later, 
Arabi  was  defeated  by  the  British  forces  at  Tel-el-Kebir. 
Thus  the  country  passed  under  English  control,  and  it  re- 
mained so.  Great  Britain,  having  taken  possession  of  Egypt, 
did  not  see  her  way  clear  to  withdraw  from  the  country, 
though  she  had  given  the  powers  assurance  that  her  occupa- 
tion would  be  temporary. 

Mr.  Gladstone's  Government  Avas  sharply  criticised  for  the 
bombardment  of  Alexandria.^  Yet  a  long  series  of  events 
seemed  to  make  this  action  necessary.  No  doubt  Egyptian 
finances  have  been  manipulated  too  much  in  the  interests  of 
English  bondholders;  but  Egypt  has,  in  the  end,  benefited 
from  English  rule.  Her  affairs  have  been  brought  into  order; 
the  English  supremacy  is  a  protection  to  the  fellaheen  against 
the  robbery  and  oppression  of  native  governments.  But  tlie 
needless  death  of  General  Gordon  will  always  be  a  reflection 

1  Consult  "  Spoiling  the  Egyptians,"  by  J.  Seymour  Keay. 

2  John  liright  resignerl  liis  position  in  the  Cabinet  because  he  difTereti  with 
his  colleagues  on  tlieir  Egyptian  policy  and  on  Home  Rule  for  Ireland,  which 
Mr.  Gladstone  now  advocated. 


310  GEEAT  BRITAIN  AND  HER  COLONIES  book  ii 

upon  the  feebleness  of  the  Liberal  foreign  policy.  This  daring 
adventurer  undertook,  on  his  own  responsibility,  to  restore 
order  in  the  Soudan.  But  when  he  was  cooped  up  in  Khar- 
tum, a  relief  expedition  was  sent  to  rescue  him.  To  the  pro- 
found sorrow  of  the  whole  English  nation  it  arrived  just  too 
late.  Khartum  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Mahdi  ^  in  January, 
1885.  Gordon  was  slain ;  and  the  English  abandoned  the  Sou- 
dan to  the  Mahdi  and  his  followers. 

In  1884  the  great  question  of  electoral  franchise  was  again 
revived,  for  not  yet  had  the  suffrage  been  so  far  extended  as 
to  satisfy  the  demands  of  the  nation.  By  the  Reform  Act  of 
1832  the  middle  classes  were  enfranchised;  by  that  of  1867 
the  right  to  vote  was  given  quite  extensively  to  workingmen 
in  cities  and  boroughs;  but  laborers  in  small  towns  and  vil- 
lages and  in  rural  districts  were  still  without  the  suffrage. 
It  was  to  relieve  the  latter  class  that  Mr.  Gladstone  passed  the 
Electoral  Bill  of  1884.^  By  this  measure  2,000,000  working- 
men  were  endowed  with  the  franchise,  and  the  number  of 
voters  in  the  kingdom  Avas  brought  to  about  6,000,000.  Thus, 
the  results  which  the  Duke  of  Wellington  and  his  political 
allies  feared  have  gradually  been  brought  about.  The  English 
political  edifice  now  rests  practically  upon  a  basis  of  universal 
suffrage,  and  the  government  of  the  country  is  no  longer  in 
the  hands  of  a  privileged  class.  Leadership,  however,  still 
belongs  to  the  men  who,  by  reason  of  ability,  education,  social 
influence,  and  political  experience,  are  best  fitted  to  lead.  Not 
yet  has  Great  Britain  experienced  the  full  force  of  the  level- 
ling tendencies  of  democracy.  Her  civil  service  has  not  been 
corrupted  by  the  spoils  system;  her  finances  are  not  controlled 
by  the  untrained  masses;  her  laws  are  not  framed  at  the  insti- 

1  In  873  the  last  Mohammed  of  the  family  of  AH  disappeared  in  a  cave  and 
was  never  seen  again.  His  reappearance  as  El  Mahdi  (the  leader)  has  been 
expected  by  many  Mussulmans.  In  1880  a  Mussulman  named  Mohammed 
Achmet  claimed  to  be  El  jNIahdi,  and  obtained  a  vast  following  am  )ng  the 
dervishes  of  the  Sondan.  He  is  usually  termed  "the  Mahdi,"  but  he  was  a 
thorough  impostor,  licentious,  arrogant,  and  cruel.  See  Slatin  Pasha's  "  With 
Fire  and  Sword  in  the  Soudan." 

2  This  franchise  extension  bill  was  stoutly  opposed  by  the  Conservatives, 
and  their  objections  to  it  were  not  without  weight.  Lord  Salisbury  claimed 
that  it  would  merge  the  rural  constituencies  in  a  vast  mass  of  urban  electors 
and  obliterate  the  distinction  between  the  rural  and  urban  parts  of  the  country. 
—  F.  S.  PuUing's  "  Life  and  Speeches  uf  Lord  Salisbury,"  II.  195-197. 


CHAP.  IV  RECENT   EVENTS  311 

gation  of  the  lobby ;  her  diplomats  are  not  appointed  for  party 
reasons.  Her  government  is,  accordingly,  one  of  the  most 
admirably  conducted  that  the  world  has  ever  seen.  Whether 
it  will  continue  to  be  so  if  the  professional  politician  thrusts 
aside  the  statesman,  and  the  caucus  exercises  its  pernicious 
sway,  the  future  has  yet  to  show.  Undoubtedly  the  franchise 
will  in  time  be  extended  to  all ;  but  it  is  to  be  hoped  that 
universal  suffrage  will  educate  rather  than  impair  the  sturdy 
sense  of  the  English  people,  and  will  complete  rather  than 
undermine  the  political  edifice  which  six  centuries  have 
reared. 

But  by  this  time  the  Liberal  majority  had  dwindled,  and, 
on  June  9,  1885,  Mr.  Gladstone  was  defeated  on  a  question  of 
revenue.  As  Lord  Beaconsfield  had  died  in  1881,  Lord  Salis- 
bury, the  recognized  head  of  the  Conservative  party,  was  made 
Prime  Minister  without  an  appeal  to  the  country.  His  short 
term  of  office  was  signalized  by  a  further  relief  act  for  the 
Irish  tenants.  A  new  Land  Bill  was  brought  in  by  Lord  Ash- 
bourne, which  allowed  peasants  the  long  term  of  forty-nine 
years  for  buying  their  holdiiigs,  and  advanced  to  them  all  the 
purchase  money.  This  act  was  better  planned  than  either  of 
those  passed  by  Mr.  Gladstone ;  and  under  it  the  sale  of  land 
to  the  Irish  tenants  greatly  increased. 

.  Lord  Salisbury's  ministry  only  lasted  till  January,  1886. 
A  dissolution  of  Parliament  was  followed  by  a  Liberal  victory; 
and,  on  February  1,  1886,  Mr.  Gladstone  was  for  the  third 
time  made  Prime  Minister.  His  majority  was  considerable, 
331  Liberals  having  been  returned  against  249  Conservatives. 
But  his  term  of  office  was  brief.  He  had  been  thoroughly 
converted  to  Home  Rule  for  Ireland,  but  his  party  would  not 
follow  him  on  this  burning  question,  which  caused  a  split  in 
the  Liberal  ranks.  For  those  who  still  accepted  Mr.  Glad- 
stone's leadership  were  now  termed  Gladstonians,  Avhile  those 
who  opposed  him  on  the  Home  Kule  question  took  the  name  of 
Liberal  Unionists. 

It  was  in  vain  that  Mr.  Gladstone  appealed  to  the  country. 
The  election  returned  310  Conservatives  and  73  Liberal-Union- 
ists against  196  Gladstonians  and  95  Parnellites.  Lord 
Salisbury  was  again  called  upon  to  form  a  Cabinet.  The 
Conservatives  seemed  as  strongly  intrenched  in  power  as  they 


312  GREAT   BRITAIN   AND   HER   COLONIES  book  ii 

were  when  Lord  Beaconstiekl's  showy  policy  for  a  time  cap- 
tivated, the  nation. 

But  this  policy  could  not  be  revived,  even  though  the  Con- 
servatives had  a  large  majority  in  the  House  of  Commons. 
Imperialism  had  not  gone  by,  but  it  had  become  greatly  modi- 
fied. England  was  bent  on  maintaining  the  power  and  great- 
ness of  her  Empire;  but  she  could  no  longer  venture  upon 
wars  of  aggression.  The  sentiment  of  the  whole  civilized 
world  was  turning  against  war.  The  Conservatives  as  well  as 
the  Liberals  were  desirous  of  avoiding  it.  Moreover,  the 
living  questions  of  the  day  imperatively  demanded  attention. 
The  Conservatives  could  not  ignore  them  even  if  they  would. 
Education,  the  relations  of  labor  and  capital,  local  government, 
and  similar  matters  forced  themselves  upon  the  notice  of  the 
nation's  lawmakers.  No  party  that  neglected  these  questions 
could  long  maintain  itself  in  power. 

Hence  the  closing  years  of  the  century  witness  a  great 
change  in  the  policy  of  the  Conservative  party.  Toward 
Home  Rule  it  has  remained  utterly  antagonistic.  In  other 
matters  it  is  almost  as  ready  for  change  as  the  Liberals  them- 
selves, the  Radicals  being  excepted.  Evidence  of  this  change 
we  find  in  the  acts  of  Lord  Salisbury's  administration.  It 
still  maintained  a  repressive  policy  toward  Ireland.  In  1887 
the  National  League  was  proclaimed  dangerous;  and  a  new 
Coercion  Act  was  passed  in  order  to  repress  agrarian  disturb- 
ances. Toward  Pai'nell  himself,  moreover,  the  Conservatives 
showed  themselves  bitter  and  contemptuous.  The  London 
Times  brought  grave  charges  against  him  and  published  letters, 
apparently  in  Parnell's  own  handwriting,  to  sustain  them. 
He  was  accused  of  countenancing  the  Phosnix  Park  murders  in 
1882,  and  of  secretly  fomenting  crime  and  sedition.  These 
charges  the  Conservatives  believed;  but  a  commission  appointed 
to  investigate  them  proved  that  the  letters  published  by  the 
Times  were  a  forgery,  and  that  the  gravest  of  the  charges  were 
without  foundation. 

But,  aside  from  its  attitude  toward  Irish  affairs,  Lord  Salis- 
bury's administration  showed  itself  liberal  and  progressive. 
In  1887  it  passed  a  measure  to  relieve  the  laboring  classes, 
called  the  Allotment  Act.  The  measure  provided  that  when- 
ever laborers  could  not  procure  land  at  a  fair  rent  by  private 


CHAP.  IV  RECENT   EVENTS  313 

arrangement,  allotments,  not  exceeding  one  acre  for  an  indi- 
vidual, should  be  made  them  by  the  State.  In  1889  an  act  was 
passed  to  protect  children  from  cruelty,  neglect,  and  abuse. 
And  in  1891  was  passed  an  act  to  further  elementary  education. 
This  was  a  very  important  measure,  and  was  in  line  with  the 
educational  legislation  of  the  preceding  twenty  years.  Eng- 
land was  slowly  learning  to  make  education  universal  and 
compulsory.  Yet  the  problem  was  not  a  simple  or  an  easy  one. 
The  Church  maintained  schools  which  asked  a  small  fee  and 
which  emphasized  religious  instruction.  The  State,  in  pro- 
viding free  schools,  could  not  ignore  the  Church  schools,  which 
had  long  done  such  excellent  service;  but  how  far  it  should 
help  them  was  a  perplexing  question,  not  to  be  solved  imme- 
diately and  sure  to  call  forth  long  and  heated  discussion.  The 
act  of  1891  was  designed  to  provide  free  school  accommodation 
wherever  necessary;  but,  in  order  to  avoid  friction,  such  edu- 
cation was  not  immediately  made  compulsory. 

During  this  Conservative  administration  occurred  the  death 
of  a  Liberal  leader  who  for  fifty  years  had  proved  himself  a 
stanch  friend  of  democracy,  and  who  deserves  more  than  a 
passing  notice  in  a  history  of  England  during  the  nineteenth 
century.  For  John  Bright  admirably  embodied  the  best  traits 
of  the  Anglo-Saxon  temper.  Sturdy,  upright,  fearless,  and 
plain-spoken,  he  became  the  acknowledged  champion  of  the 
English  workingmen,  and  throughout  his  long  life  he  espoused 
their  cause  ■with  unswerving  fidelity  to  principle.  Boi'n  in 
1811,  he  became,  about  1810,  a  distinguished  advocate  of  the 
Anti-Corn-Law  League,  and  from  that  time  to  the  end  of  his 
life  he  labored  devotedly  for  reform.  Again  and  again  did 
his  voice  ring  out  on  the  platform  and  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons in  behalf  of  the  poor,  the  suffering,  and  the  victims  of 
unjust  legislation.  Electoral  reform  found  in  him  one  of  its 
most  earnest  supporters ;  and  as  a  member  of  the  Society  of 
Friends  he  hated  war  and  rebuked  it  on  every  possible  occasion. 
Yet  so  great  was  his  abhorrence  of  slavery  that  he  was  an 
ardent  friend  of  the  American  Union  when  it  was  imperilled 
by  civil  conflict.  As  an  orator  he  possessed  uncommon  powers, 
and  the  "lava  flow"  of  his  speech  often  tlirilled  his  audiences 
and  filled  them  with  his  own  enthusiasm.  l>ut  he  never  used 
these  splendid  gifts  to  further  selfish  ambition.     For  two  gen- 


3U  GREAT   BRITAIN   AND    HER   COLONIES  book  ii 

erations  he  rebuked  injustice,  shams,  and  intrigue,  and  held 
up  the  noblest  ideals  of  national  greatness  before  iiis  country- 
men. England  has  had  far  greater  political  leaders  than  he, 
but  none  that  have  surpassed  him  in  purity  of  aim  and  lofty 
patriotism.     He  died  in  London  on  March  27,  1889. 

In  spite  of  the  progressive  course  which  the  Conservatives 
pursued  under  Lord  Salisbury,  the  sentiment  of  the  nation 
seemed  to  turn  toward  Mr.  Gladstone.  Parliament  was  dis- 
solved in  June,  1892,  and  the  Gladstonians  gained  a  victory, 
though  by  no  means  a  decisive  one.  In  the  new  House  of 
Commons  they  had  a  majority  of  forty-two,  so  long  as  the 
Home  Rulers  voted  with  them.  But  the  Home  Rulers  were 
divided.  Mr.  Parnell  died  in  1892,  after  losing  much  of  his 
power  and  influence  through  his  connection  with  a  disgraceful 
scandal;  and  the  leadership  of  the  Irish  Liberals,  even  before 
his  death,  had  passed  to  Mr.  Justin  ]McCarthy.  But  a  small 
faction  of  Home  Rulers  clung  to  the  memory  of  their  departed 
leader,  refused  to  follow  Mr.  McCarthy,  and  called  themselves 
Parnellites.  Between  these  two  factions  much  bitter  feeling 
existed;  and  under  these  circumstances  Lord  Salisbury  did 
not  recognize  defeat  and  did  not  retire  from  ofHce  because  of 
the  result  of  the  elections.  But  the  Home  Rulers,  in  spite  of 
their  dissension,  combined  with  the  Gladstonians  to  overthrow 
him.  He  was  forced  to  resign,  and  Mr.  Gladstone  was  for  the 
fourth  time  made  Prime  ]Minister.  He  was  now  eighty-two 
years  old;  and,  though  remarkably  vigorous,  he  was  bent 
upon  accomplishing  one  thing  only  before  closing  his  long 
parliamentary  career.  He  wished  to  crown  his  services  to  his 
country  by  securing  Home  Rule  for  Ireland.  Accordingly,  he 
brought  in  an  elaborate  bill  to  that  end  in  April,  1893.  It 
resembled  the  one  he  had  presented  in  1886;  but  in  this  second 
bill  he  allowed  the  Irish  members  to  sit  in  the  Imperial  Par- 
liament and  to  vote  on  national  as  distinguished  from  Scotch 
and  English  affairs.  The  bill  passed  the  Commons  after  long 
discussion,  but  was  overwhelmingly  defeated  in  the  House  of 
Lords.  It  seemed  impossible  to  coerce  the  Lords,  for  Mr. 
Gladstone  did  not  really  have  the  English  nation  behind  him. 
A  majority  of  the  English  and  Scotch  members  of  the  House 
of  Commons  were  opposed  to  Home  Rule.  Hence  there  was 
no  public  sentiment  that  would  warrant  the  creation  of  new 


CHAP.  IV  RECENT   EVENTS  315 


peers  in  sufficient  numbers  to  pass  Mr.  Gladstone's  bill.  Yet 
the  political  character  of  the  Upper  House  invited  serious 
reflection  and  called  forth  much  hostile  criticism.  The  peers 
represented  a  class  rather  than  the  nation.  They  were  never 
in  sympathy  with  progressive  and  liberal  legislation,  but  only 
accepted  it  as  a  necessity.  The  Home  Eule  Bill  was  not  popu- 
lar with  the  English  people;  still,  it  had  passed  the  House  of 
Commons.  In  the  House  of  Lords  only  41  voted  for  it,  while 
its  opponents  numbered  419.  Such  a  vote  seemed  to  show  that 
the  Lords  were  not  in  touch  with  the  voters  of  the  nation.  A 
reform  in  the  character  of  the  Upper  House  seemed  therefore 
necessary,  and  was  loudly  demanded.  Yet  how  to  accomplish 
it  was  a  difficult  question.  The  House  of  Lords  has  had  a 
great  and  splendid  history,  and,  though  it  often  delays,  it  never 
thwarts  the  legislation  that  is  imperatively  demanded  by  the 
nation.  Few  would  be  willing  to  see  it  abolished,  and  no  one 
can  say  just  how  its  powers  should  be  curtailed.  Hence,  in 
spite  of  severe  and  frequent  criticism,  it  remains  unchanged.^ 

As  his  majority  was  small  and  dependent  upon  the  Home 
Kulers,  and  as  the  Lords  were  so  thoroughly  hostile,  Mr. 
Gladstone  did  not  appeal  to  the  country.  The  question  of 
Home  Rule  was  quietly  abandoned  in  spite  of  the  protests  of 
the  Irish  members.  That  it  will  soon  be  revived  again  in 
Parliament  seems  improbable.  Yet  JVIr.  Gladstone  had  set  the 
English  nation  an  ideal  of  justice  toward  Ireland  which  it 
cannot  lose  sight  of  and  toward  which  it  will  surely  grow. 
Not  till  it  has  done  so  will  Irish  discontent  be  appeased.'^ 

In  March,  1894,  Mr.  Gladstone  resigned,  owing  to  the  forma- 
tion of  a  cataract  in  his  eyes.  A  successful  operation  restored 
his  sight;  but  he  did  not  reenter  public  life.  His  retirement 
was  deeply  mourned  and  was  to  his  party  an  irreparable  loss. 
To  choose  a  successor  to  liim  was  by  no  means  easy,  for  no 
other  Liberal  leader  was  conspicuous  above  his  colleagues  for 
ability  and  influence.  No  one  else,  it  was  prophesied,  could 
maintain  the  small  Liberal  majority  in  the  House  of  Commons. 
A  very  slight  disaffection  would  result  in  the  defeat  of  the 

1  For  an  able  defence  of  the  Honse  of  Lords,  see  Pulliug's  "  Life  and 
Speeches  of  Lord  Salisl)iiry,"  IL  22:}-2;?0. 

2  O'Brien's  "  Fifty  Years  of  Concession  to  Ireland  "  (II.  42.5)  contains  this 
signiticant  utterance:  "  Sutticient  measures  liave  not  yet  been  taken  to  oblit- 
erate the  memory  of  the  conquest  from  their  (i.e.  the  Irish)  minds." 


316  GREAT   BRITAIN   AND   HER   COLONIES  book  ii 

Government.  And  the  Irish  Liberals  were  already  becoming 
discontented;  for  they  thought  the  Home  Rule  question  was 
not  receiving  due  consideration.  It  was  a  discouraging  task, 
therefore,  that  awaited  the  new  Liberal  leader;  and  so  Lord 
Rosebery,  who  was  elected  to  fill  the  vacant  post,  found  it  to 
be.  The  Queen  appointed  him  Prime  Minister;  but,  being  a 
peer,  he  could  not  sit  in  the  House  of  Commons  and  direct  his 
party  there.  Yet  he  performed  his  difficult  duties  with  no 
little  skill.  For  more  than  a  year  he  kept  the  Liberals  in 
power,  and  had  many  useful  and  progressive  measures  passed 
through  Parliament.  Among  them  was  a  bill  to  establish  a 
Local  Government  Board  for  Scotland ;  for  the  Scotch  as  well 
as  the  Irish  had  become  desirous  of  managing  their  own  affairs. 
But  in  June,  1895,  the  Government  was  defeated  on  a  question 
of  army  estimates.  Lord  Rosebery  resigned.  Lord  Salisbury 
was  for  the  third  time  made  Prime  Minister,  and  Parliament 
was  dissolved. 

In  the  elections  which  followed  the  Liberals  met  with  a 
most  disastrous  defeat.  Only  177  Gladstonians  and  82  Irish 
Liberals  were  elected,  against  340  Conservatives  and  71  Liberal 
Unionists.  Thus  the  Conservatives,  witli  the  aid  of  the  Lib- 
eral Unionists,  had  a  clear  majority  of  152.  No  party  had 
won  such  a  sweeping  victory  since  1832,  when  the  excitement 
over  the  Reform  Bill  enabled  the  Liberals  to  carry  everything 
before  them. 

The  reasons  for  the  Liberal  discomfiture  cannot  be  stated 
with  certainty,  but  apparently  the  following  causes  contrib- 
uted to  bring  it  about:  (1)  Mr.  Gladstone's  retirement  from 
politics  and  the  consequent  mistrust  of  the  Liberal  policy; 
(2)  the  increased  readiness  of  the  Conservatives  to  legislate 
in  domestic  affairs;  (3)  a  growing  disposition  among  the 
British  people  to  love  power  and  dominion,  and  to  regard  the 
Conservative  party  as  a  means  of  obtaining  it;  (4)  indiffer- 
ence on  the  part  of  the  newly  enfranchised  Avorking-classes  to 
the  ideals  of  the  Liberal  leaders  and  thinkers.^ 

Lord  Salisbury's  administration  was  not  in  the  end  success- 
ful.    He  was  not  a  great  leader  or  a  great  executive.      He 

1  The  causes  of  the  apathy  of  the  Liberals  and  vigor  of  the  Conservatives 
are  ably  discussed  in  a  London  letter  to  the  New  York  Nation  for  January 
28,  1897. 


CHAP.  IV  KECENT  EVENTS  317 

lacked  the  energy  and  the  intrepidity  which  characterized 
Lord  Palmerston;  he  had  not  the  intellectual  breadth  or  the 
moral  elevation  of  Mr.  Gladstone.  In  no  direction  did  he 
show  great  vigor  and  ability:  and  his  foreign  policy  was  so 
timid  and  cautious  as  to  give  offence  even  to  his  own  party. 
He  soon  found  himself  confronted  with  problems  of  a  pecul- 
iarly difficult  and  delicate  character,  —  problems  which  would 
have  taxed  the  resources  of  a  statesman  of  first-rate  genius, 
and  which  proved  too  formidable  for  Lord  Salisbury's  astute 
but  halting  diplomacy.  In  handling  them  he  gradually  lost 
the  confidence  of  the  nation. 

In  1894  and  1895  terrible  massacres  were  perpetrated  by  the 
Turks  in  Armenia.  At  first  only  vague  rumors  of  these  bar- 
barous deeds  were  circulated,  and  they  were  received  with 
mistrust.  But  authentic  tidings  not  only  confirmed  the  first 
reports,  but  gave  revolting  details  which  sent  a  thrill  of  indig- 
nation over  the  whole  civilized  world.  Plainly  the  Turk  was 
at  his  old  game  of  robbery,  indecency,  and  murder,  which  he 
had  played  with  delight  for  centuries.  Moreover,  it  was 
clearly  shown  that  the  massacres  Avere  planned  at  the  Sultan's 
palace  in  Constantinople  with  a  view  to  exterminating  the 
unliappy  Armenian  people,  whom  the  Turks  thoroughly  detest. 
The  more  fully  the  circumstances  of  the  murders  were  known, 
the  more  atrocious  did  they  appear.  In  England  they  occa- 
sioned great  excitement  and  called  forth  demands  that  the 
Government  should  put  a  stop  to  the  outrages  at  any  cost. 
Mr.  Gladstone  appeared  in  public  to  lift  up  his  voice  once 
more  against  Turkish  iniquity  and  to  denounce  the  regime  at 
Constantino})le  as  the  "scandal  of  the  world."  But  many  who 
thoroughly  disliked  the  Turk  believed  that  England  ought  not 
to  act  alone  or  hastily  in  bringing  his  barbarities  to  an  end. 
Lord  Rosebery  was  of  this  opinion,  and  ultimately  he  resigned 
the  leadership  of  the  Liberal  party  because  he  found  himself 
out  of  sympathy  with  its  views  upon  this  question.  Lord 
Salisbury  himself  approached  the  matter  slowly  and  with  an 
apparent  sense  of  powerlessness.  At  first  he  declared  that 
England  could  do  nothing  for  the  Armenians,  and  hinted 
vaguely  at  the  need  of  Turkish  reforms.  Xo  other  power 
seemed  able  and  willing  to  take  the  matter  in  hand,  so  the 
Turk  went  ou  uninterrupted  in  his  wicked  work.     Thousands 


318  GREAT   BRITAIN   AND   HER   COLONIES  book  ii 

more  of  Armenians  were  butchered  in  1890.  The  prospects 
of  this  unhappy  people  seemed  dark  enough;  for  even  the 
efforts  which  Lord  Salisbury  finally  made  in  their  behalf  were 
showy  and  pretentious  rather  than  effective.  He  endeavored 
to  bring  about  a  concert  of  the  great  European  powers  against 
the  Sultan,  and  in  spite  of  serious  obstacles  he  succeeded  after 
much  negotiation.  Russia  was  at  first  very  unwilling  to 
threaten  the  Turk  with  force;  and  merely  to  ply  him  with 
moral  suasion  Avas  an  utter  farce.  But  the  Tsar  finally  con- 
ceded the  point,  and  by  January,  1897,  Lord  Salisbury  had  won 
what  was  at  the  time  considered  a  considerable  diplomatic 
triumph.  The  Sultan  was  informed  that  the  bloody  work  of 
exterminating  the  Armenians  must  come  to  an  end,  or  the 
powers  would  put  a  stop  to  it  by  armed  force.  But  that  the 
Sultan  will  long  be  restrained  by  the  menace  is  not  probable. 
He  well  knows  how  unwilling  the  powers  would  be  to  carry 
out  their  threat  and  to  depose  him  at  the  risk  of  exciting  fierce 
jealousies,  and,  possibly,  of  bringing  on  a  general  European 
war.  Accordingly,  after  the  lapse  of  forty  years,  the  folly  of 
the  Crimean  War  had  received  a  striking  demonstration.  By 
sustaining  the  Turk  in  1855,  England  had  made  it  difficult  to 
coerce  him  in  1897.  Yet  difficult  as  was  the  task,  there  were 
many  Englishmen  who  did  not  consider  it  impossible.  There 
were  many  who  agreed  with  Mr.  Gladstone  rather  than  with 
Lord  Rosebery  and  Lord  Salisbury,  and  who  claimed  that  it 
was  England's  right  and  duty  to  enforce  the  provisions  of  the 
Anglo-Turkish  Convention  of  1878.  In  that  Convention, 
arranged  at  the  Berlin  Congress  (p.  304),  Turkey  had  agreed 
to  carry  out  such  reforms  as  England  demanded;  and  England 
would  have  been  fully  justified  in  compelling  the  Sultan  to 
live  up  to  this  agreement.  Had  she  boldly  and  fearlessly 
taken  this  stand,  there  is  no  likelihood  that  the  great  powers 
of  Europe  would  have  felt  that  the  Turkish  possession  of  Con- 
stantinople was  menaced,  and  would  have  ventured  to  inter- 
fere. The  fear  of  applying  force  to  Turkey  and  of  bringing 
on  a  gigantic  war  has  become  the  nightmare  of  European 
diplomacy. 

In  1896  the  British  Government  was  drawn  into  another 
entanglement  with  the  South  African  Republic.  Rich  gold 
mines  exist  in  the  territory  of  this  Boer  State,  and  in  their 


CHAP.  IV  RECENT   EVENTS  319 

vicinity  thriving  communities  have  sprung  up  with  wonderful 
rapidity.  Yet  to  the  inhabitants  of  tliese  communities,  who 
are  largely  English  and  who  bear  the  name  of  Uitlanders  (that 
is,  Outlanders),  the  Boers  would  grant  no  political  rights  what- 
ever. The  control  of  their  rich  country  they  desire  to  keep 
entirely  in  their  own  hands,  no  matter  though  they  become  a 
small  minority  of  its  population.  Naturally  this  state  of 
things  was  galling  to  the  new  settlers.  In  particular  the  rich 
and  growing  city  of  Johannesburg,  in  the  heart  of  the  mining 
district,  was  full  of  malcontents;  for  its  people  were  heavily 
taxed  to  support  a  state  which  would  not  give  them  citizen- 
ship. A  conspiracy  was  therefore  framed  to  overthrow  the 
Boer  Government,  and  bring  the  South  African  Republic  under 
British  rule.  The  seat  of  the  conspiracy  was  Johannesburg; 
but  it  was  known  to  Englishmen  of  high  position  in  South 
Africa,  and  possibly  to  the  colonial  office  in  London.  Cecil 
Rhodes,  Prime  Minister  of  Cape  Colony,  was  privy  to  it;  his 
friend.  Dr.  Jameson,  with  the  cognizance  of  Mr.  Rhodes,  as  it 
proved,  attempted  to  bring  the  conspiracy  to  a  successful  ter- 
mination. On  December  29,  1895,  he  entered  the  South 
African  Republic  with  seven  hundred  men.  The  Boers,  under 
the  lead  of  their  President,  Paul  Kruger,  successfully  resisted 
the  invading  force.  Dr.  Jameson,  after  losing  a  large  number 
of  his  followers,  was  obliged  to  surrender.  President  Kruger 
delivered  his  prisoners  to  the  British  authorities  for  trial  and 
punishment;  and  Dr.  Jameson  and  five  of  his  foremost  assist- 
ants were  taken  to  England  and  there  convicted  and  sentenced 
to  imprisonment.  Dr.  Jameson's  term  was  fifteen  months; 
that  of  the  others  from  ten  to  five  months.  But  the  Boers 
themselves  arrested  and  tried  a  number  of  Uitlanders  who  had 
organized  and  abetted  the  conspiracy.  Four,  including  the 
brother  of  Cecil  Rhodes,  were  condemned  to  death,  and  sixty 
others  were  sentenced  to  a  fine  and  to  imprisonment  for  two 
years.  But  President  Kruger  mitigated  all  these  sentences. 
All  of  those  convicted  were  finally  released  on  payment  of  a 
heavy  fine. 

One  principal  offender,  however,  was  still  unpunished. 
Cecil  Rhodes  Avas  beyond  question  deeply  implicated  in  the 
conspiracy,  and  President  Kruger  demanded  that  the  Bi-itish 
Government  should  bring  him  also  to  justice.     It  was  difficult 


320  GREAT   BRITAIN   AND   HER   COLONIES  book  ii 

to  resist  the  demand ;  even  more  difficult  to  comply  with  it. 
England  naturally  preferred  to  use  Mr.  Rhodes  in  extending 
her  power  in  South  Africa  rather  than  to  punish  him  as  a 
criminal.  But  early  in  1897  he  sailed  to  the  mother-country 
to  meet  whatever  fate  might  await  him.  His  fate,  however, 
was  not  an  unhappy  one.  He  was  received  more  like  a  hero 
than  a  criminal;  and  the  parliamentary  committee  appointed 
to  investigate  Dr  Jameson's  raid  was  dominated  by  Mr. 
Rhodes's  strong  personality,  and  its  proceedings  were  little 
better  than  a  farce.  Certain  important  cablegrams  had  passed 
between  Mr.  Rhodes  and  others  in  South  Africa  and  persons 
in  England  who  were  in  his  confidence.  But  these  cable- 
grams the  committee  of  investigation  would  not  call  for;  nor 
would  it  follow  up  any  clews  that  might  possibly  lead  to  Mr. 
Chamberlain  and  the  colonial  office.^  So  its  final  report, 
which  censured  no  one  in  high  station,  commanded  no  respect. 
Mr.  Rhodes  returned  to  South  Africa  without  loss  of  prestige ; 
the  colonial  office  remained  suspected,  but  not  convicted,  of 
complicity  in  the  raid. 

But  England's  operations  in  Africa  at  this  period  were  not 
confined  to  the  region  of  Boers  and  gold  mines.  The  occupa- 
tion of  Egypt  (p.  309)  finally  led  to  an  invasion  of  the  Soudan  ; 
for  it  seemed  best  to  bring  this  vast  tract  once  more  under  the 
reign  of  law  and  order.  The  task  was  rendered  more  easy  by 
the  death  of  the  Mahdi,  in  1885.  His  successor  had  not  the 
same  influence  over  the  dervishes  that  the  Mahdi  himself  had 
had;  and  the  English  troops  penetrated  the  Soudan  and  cap- 
tured its  strongholds  without  serious  difficulty. 

Hardly  less  serious,  for  a  brief  period  more  serious,  than  the 
troubles  that  arose  in  South  Africa  and  in  Egypt  was  the  diffi- 
culty with  the  United  States  over  the  Venezuela  question. 
The  boundary  between  British  Guiana  and  Venezuela  had 
never   been    determined.     The   British   claimed   large   tracts 

1  Mr.  Chamberlain  himself  appeared  before  the  investigating  committee 
and  declared  in  the  most  positive  manner  that  he  had  no  previous  knowledge 
of  the  raid  and  no  suspicion  of  it  till  the  day  before  it  took  place.  There 
seems  to  be  no  good  reason  why  this  statement  should  not  be  believed,  coming 
as  it  does  from  a  man  of  Mr.  Chamberlain's  position.  But  that  there  were 
persons  in  England  who  were  acquainted  with  Mr.  Khodes's  plans  can  hardly 
be  doubted;  and  the  production  of  the  cablegrams  would  have  shown  who 
they  were. 


CHAP.  IV  RECENT  EVENTS  321 

which  the  Venezuelans  considered  part  of  their  own  territory, 
lu  some  of  these  tracts  British  citizens  had  settled  in  pursu- 
ance of  the  mining  industry;  a,nd  these  lands  Great  Britain 
was  disposed  to  appropriate,  in  order  to  give  her  own  subjects 
ample  protection.  Against  such  appropriation  Venezuela  pro- 
tested; and  the  United  States  claimed  that  Great  Britain  could 
not  set  aside  Venezuela's  protest  without  violating  the  IMonroe 
Doctrine.  The  Government  of  the  United  States  entered  into 
long  negotiations  with  the  British  Government  regarding  the 
matter;  but  for  some  time  diplomacy  accomplished  nothing. 
Lord  Salisbury  held  that  the  nations  of  Europe  were  in  no  way 
bound  to  recognize  the  Monroe  Doctrine;  and  he  was  thor- 
ougldy  disinclined  to  settle  the  disputed  question  by  arbi- 
tration, as  the  United  States  desired.  His  attitude  caused 
President  Cleveland  to  take  a  bold  stand  in  his  message  to 
Congress  in  December,  1895.  So  deliant  was  the  President's 
tone  toward  Great  Britain  that  for  a  short  time  war  between 
the  two  countries  seemed  a  possibility.  But  Lord  Salisbury, 
always  timid  in  the  face  of  a  storm,  finally  agreed  to  submit 
the  difficulty  with  Venezuela  to  arbitration,  a  satisfactory  rule 
of  procedure  having  been  devised.  It  was  decided  that  British 
Guiana  should  be  treated  as  an  individual,  and  that  its  claims 
to  territory  should  be  determined  by  the  length  of  time  they 
had  been  allowed  to  pass  without  question,  as  would  those  of 
an  individual  in  court  of  law.  And  not  only  was  this  peace- 
able solution  of  a  troublesome  question  found,  but  an  arbitra- 
tion treaty  between  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  was 
formulated.  It  provided  that  all  disputes  between  the  two 
countries  should  be  settled  by  a  court  of  arbitration;  and  if  it 
had  been  adopted,  this  treaty  would  have  made  war,  the  tra- 
ditional resort  of  nations  that  disagree,  wellnigh  impossible. 
But  unfortunately  it  was  rejected  by  tlie  United  States  Senate. 
Although  this  peaceable  adjustment  of  the  Venezuela  difficulty 
was  only  accomplished  by  concessions  to  the  United  States,  it 
was  undoubtedly  agreeable  to  the  people  of  Great  Britain ;  and 
it  subjected  the  Government  to  no  serious  criticism.  But  new 
troubles  arose  which  had  to  be  faced  with  courage  and  consum- 
mate statecraft,  and  which  afforded  the  Liberals  many  oppor- 
tunities for  faultfinding.  In  particular,  two  of  the  continental 
nations   gave   England  much   uneasiness  by  their  aggressive 


322  GREAT   BRITAIN   AND    HER   COLONIES  book  ii 

foreign  policy,  and  threatened  her  with  loss  of  territory  and  of 
trade.  For  France  encroached  upon  Great  Britain's  African 
domains,  and  Russia  began  to  be  grasping  and  dangerous  in 
the  far  East. 

It  was  in  the  region  of  the  river  Niger  that  British  and 
French  interests  clashed.  France  persisted  in  occupying 
country  which  Great  Britain  claimed,  and  was  loath  to  heed 
the  protests  of  Lord  Salisbury's  Government.  The  French 
Government  made  promises,  indeed,  that  England's  rights 
should  be  respected;  but  the  promises  were  not  kept,  and 
French  posts  were  still  maintained  where  England  claimed 
sole  possession.  Hence  England's  position  became  difficult 
and  embarrassing.  It  was  hardly  worth  while  to  go  to  war  over 
the  disputed  territory ;  yet  where  would  French  aggression  end 
if  it  were  not  stopped?  There  was  much  negotiation  between 
the  Governments  of  the  two  countries  over  these  African  diffi- 
culties; and  it  was  finally  decided  that  each  of  them  should 
appoint  commissioners  to  meet  in  Paris  and  settle  all  African 
boundary  disputes.  The  commissioners  met,  considered  care- 
fully the  claims  of  the  two  nations,  and,  on  June  14,  1898, 
they  signed  a  convention  which  promised  to  bring  the  disputes 
over  the  Niger  region  to  an  end.  France  was,  on  the  whole, 
the  gainer  by  the  agreement,  as  her  West  African  possessions 
were  increased.  At  the  same  time  Egypt  was  recognized  as  a 
British  possession;  and  nearly  all  of  the  southern  third  of  the 
continent,  from  Lake  Tanganyika  to  Cape  Town,  was  consid- 
ered British  soil. 

The  agreement  would  have  been  more  satisfactory  to  the 
British  Government  if  it  had  provided  the  means  for  connect- 
ing Egypt  with  South  Africa.  For  this  is  one  of  England's 
cherished  schemes.  She  has  pushed  northward  from  Cape 
Colony  and  southward  through  the  Soudan ;  and  she  would 
fain  acquire  enough  territory  in  Central  Africa  to  make  her 
domains  stretch  uninterruptedly  from  the  Nile  Delta  to  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope.  This  plan  has  captivated  the  mind  of 
Mr.  Cecil  Rhodes,  who  hopes  to  see  these  two  distant  points 
of  African  territory  united  by  a  railroad.^     But  the  Congo  Free 

1  It  is  possible  that  this  ambitious  project  covers  still  larijer  designs.  Those 
who  have  studied  Englisli  diplomacy  carefully  believe  that  England  never 
loses  sight  of  Constantinople,  and  that  in  consolidating  her  power  in  and 


CHAP.  IV  RECENT   EVENTS  323 

State  and  the  German  possessions  in  East  Africa  stand  in  the 
way  of  the  realization  of  this  project;  and  it  conflicts  also 
with  French  territorial  schemes.  For  France  desires  to  make 
her  African  empire  extend  from  the  western  to  the  eastern 
coast;  and  thus  she  would  occuiiy  the  very  territory  which 
Great  Britain  needs.  Now  that  the  Paris  Convention  has 
been  signed,  there  may  be  no  further  friction;  but  before  that 
agreement  was  made,  France  showed  an  unmistakable  tendency 
to  encroach  upon  England's  Central  African  possessions.  On 
September  2,  1898,  Sirdar  Kitchener  annihilated  the  army  of 
the  Khalifa  at  Omdurman,  nearly  opposite  Khartum  on  the 
Nile,  and  thus  nearly  completed  the  conquest  of  the  Soudan 
(p.  320).  But  only  a  day  or  two  after  the  battle  the  Sirdar 
received  the  important  news  that  Fashoda,  a  point  on  the  river 
about  six  degrees  farther  south,  was  occupied  by  a  force  of 
white  men.  Proceeding  southward  to  investigate,  the  Sirdar 
found  that  the  white  men  were  a  small  body  of  French  soldiers 
headed  by  Major  Marchand,  who  had  pushed  his  way  westward 
to  this  spot  from  the  French  Congo.  As  he  had  acted  under 
instructions,  Major  Marchand  refused  to  withdraw  at  the 
Sirdar's  request.  But  his  action  called  forth  such  vigorous 
protests  from  Great  Britain  that  the  French  Government  de- 
cided to  abandon  the  post.  Accordingly,  at  a  banquet  given 
to  Lord  ^  Kitchener  by  the  Lord  Mayor  of  London  on  Novem- 
ber 5,  Lord  Salisbury  was  able  to  announce  that  the  French 
would  shortly  evacuate  Fashoda.  Thus  the  unpleasant  inci- 
dent terminated  without  rupturing  the  friendship  of  the  two 
nations;  bvit  it  well  typified  the  spirit  of  French  aggression. 
In  Madagascar  the  French  showed  scant  respect  for  British 
rights;  and  the  colonists  of  France  manifest  a  tendency  to 
usurp  British  soil  when  opportunity  offers. 

In  the  far  East  Russia  has  given  England  cause  for  uneasi- 
ness ever  since  the  close  of  the  war  between  China  and  Japan. 
That  struggle  showed  so  strikingly  the  weakness  of  the  Chinese 
Empire,  that  the  nations  of  Europe  began  to  wrest  concessions 
and  privileges  from  the  tottering  Chinese  Government.     In 

about  the  Eastern  Meiliterranean  she  is  preparing  for  a  final  move  upon  the 
Golden  Horn. 

1  For  his  victory  at  Oindurinan,  (General  KitchtMicr,  who  had  been  knighted 
after  the  taking  of  Dougola  in  IS'JtJ,  w  as  made  Uarou  Kitchener  of  Khartum. 


324  GREAT   BRITAIN   AND    HER   COLONIES  book  ii 

this  race  for  gain  Russia  played  a  leading  part.  First  acting 
in  concert  with  France  and  Germany,  Russia  forced  Japan  to 
give  up  the  Liao-Tung  peninsula,  which  had  been  ceded  to  her 
at  the  termination  of  the  war  with  China  as  a  part  of  the  spoils 
of  victory.  This  accomplished,  Russia  next  schemed  to  get 
possession  of  Port  Arthur,  on  the  extremity  of  this  peninsula, 
and  thus  secure  on  the  Pacific  a  port  not  ice-bound  in  the 
winter.  The  attempt  was  successful.  On  March  27,  1898, 
this  important  stronghold  was  ceded  to  Russia  by  China;  and 
the  cession  ^vas  all  the  more  important  because  Russia  had 
already  obtained  from  China  the  right  to  carry  the  Trans- 
Siberian  railway  through  Manciiuria.  Indeed,  although  the 
Russian  Government  still  pressed  for  every  possible  concession 
at  the  Court  of  Peking,  it  had  obtained  what  it  particularly 
desired.  Always  pursuing  an  exclusive  policy,  Russia  is  not 
satisfied  merely  to  acquire  rights  in  a  country.  What  it  wishes 
is  actual  annexation  and  absorption.  Consequently,  no  sooner 
did  it  obtain  privileges  in  Manchuria  than  it  quietly  proceeded 
to  possess  the  country.  It  introduced  its  own  colonists,  the 
region  being  by  no  means  densely  populated,^  and  began  to 
Russianize  the  province.  Hence,  having  become  practically 
the  owner  of  this  rich  and  fertile  country,  Russia  viewed  with 
unconcern  the  smaller  concessions  wrested  from  China  by  other 
European  powers. 

The  powers,  however,  were  not  inactive.  Finding  that  Russia 
had  gained  Port  Arthur,  Great  Britain,  in  order  to  lessen  the 
value  of  this  outlet  upon  the  Pacific,  requested  China  to  declare 
Talien-wan,  in  the  vicinity  of  Port  Arthur,  a  treaty  port. 
Failing  in  this.  Great  Britain  secured  the  port  of  Wei-Hai- 
Wei,  on  a  tongue  of  land  over  opposite  Port  Arthur;  while 
Germany  seized  the  harbor  of  Kiao-Chau,  farther  south  on 
the  Chinese  coast,  and  France  obtained  the  lease  of  a  bay  on 
the  southern  coast  of  China  and  several  other  substantial 
concessions. 

By  obtaining  possession  of  Port  Arthur,  Russia  has  become 
a  naval  power  in  the  far  East,  and,  in  case  of  a  war  with  Great 
Britain,  she  could  advance  on  India  by  sea  as  well  as  by  land. 

1  Manchuria  has  362,310  square  miles  and  less  than  20,000,000  inhabitants. 
New  York  State  has  about  one  seventh  of  this  area  and  nearly  one  third  as 
large  a  population. 


CHAP.  IV  RECENT   EVENTS  325 

It  thus  becomes  necessary  for  England  to  watch  Russia's 
movements  with  the  greatest  care;  and  that  she  is  doing  this 
there  is  abundant  evidence.  Moreover,  England  views  with 
concern  the  attempts  of  the  continental  European  nations  to 
grasp  portions  of  Chinese  territory;  for  all  the  regions  thus 
acquired  are  likely  to  be  ruled  in  the  interests  of  the  nations 
that  possess  them,  and  to  be  closed  to  British  trade.  This 
narrow  policy  is  not  pursued  by  the  British  Government.  Great 
Britain,  in  acquiring  territory,  throws  it  open  to  other  nations 
for  purposes  of  trade;  and  she  has  been  anxious  that,  as  Cliinese 
exclusion  is  overcome  and  broken  down,  the  riches  of  this  vast 
country  should  not  become  the  sole  possession  of  a  few  grasp- 
ing nations,  but  should  be  available  to  the  whole  world.  This 
enlightened  view  of  international  commercial  relations  is 
termed  "  the  open  door  "  policy ;  and  very  naturally  it  is  held 
by  the  United  States.  For  until  recently  the  idea  of  foreign 
conquest  and  actual  possession  of  far-away  lands  has  not  been 
cherished  by  the  American  mind.  But  the  continental  Euro- 
pean powers  are  more  inclined  to  the  policy  of  exclusion  than 
to  that  of  the  open  door;  and  England,  which  is  finding  Ger- 
many a  formidable  commercial  rival,  considers  the  question  of 
maintaining  its  foreign  trade  an  all-important  one. 

Thus,  the  eyes  of  the  English  people  have  been  directed 
toward  remote  regions,  and  domestic  politics  have  been  over- 
shadowed by  foreign  complications.  Yet  the  path  of  internal 
progress  and  political  reform  has  not  been  abandoned,  as  the 
statute  book  conclusively  shows.  It  is  impossible  to  enumerate 
here  all  the  important  legislative  acts  that  have  been  passed 
in  recent  years  by  the  English  Parliament ;  but  a  few  of  them 
may  be  mentioned,  as  they  serve  to  show  what  has  already 
been  pointed  out  (p.  312),  that  the  Conservative  party  has 
become  exceedingly  active  in  the  cause  of  reform.  The  suf- 
frage received  further  extension  in  1897  through  a  bill  which 
gave  women  owning  or  renting  buildings  the  right  to  vote  for 
candidates  for  Parliament.  In  the  same  year  additional  gov- 
ernment aid  was  granted  to  elementary  education,  and  compen- 
sation was  secured  to  workingmen  Avho  received  injury  while 
working  under  certain  specified  conditions.  In  the  following 
year  the  statutes  regarding  criminal  evidence  were  so  revised  as 
to  allow  an  accused  person,  and  also  the  wife  or  husband  of  that 


326  GREAT   BRITAIN   AND   HER   COLONIES  book  ii 


person,  to  testify  for  the  defence ;  and  local  self-government 
was  granted  to  Ireland  by  an  elaborate  and  carefully  framed 
measure.  By  this  act  the  duties  of  local  government  are  im- 
posed upon  bodies  popularly  elected,  as  is  the  usage  in  Eng- 
land and  Scotland,  the  franchise  being  in  each  case  the  parlia- 
mentary franchise  with  the  addition  of  peers  and  rate-paying 
women.  That  so  radical  a  measure  of  relief  to  Ireland  should 
be  passed  by  a  Conservative  Parliament  was  a  matter  of  sur- 
prise and  an  interesting  commentary  upon  the  shifts  and  changes 
of  political  opinion  in  a  thinking  country.  Had  a  Liberal  Gov- 
ernment proposed  a  similar  measure  a  quarter  of  a  century 
earlier,  it  would  have  been  accused  of  treason  by  the  Conser- 
vative party. 

It  was  unfortunate  that  the  great  statesman  who  had  done  so 
much  for  Ireland  did  not  live  to  see  his  own  principles  vindi- 
cated by  the  passage  of  this  just  and  enlightened  measure.  It 
was  not  until  July  18,  1898,  that  the  bill  passed  to  its  third 
reading;  and  on  May  19  of  the  same  year  William  Ewart 
Gladstone  died  at  the  age  of  88.  He  was  buried  in  Westmin- 
ster Abbey  at  the  request  of  the  House  of  Commons,  and  his 
loss  was  mourned  not  only  by  the  nation  but  by  the  whole  civil- 
ized world.  A  fitting  tribute  was  paid  him  by  Mr.  Balfour, 
the  Conservative  leader  of  the  House  of  Commons,  who  pro- 
nounced him  "the  greatest  member  of  the  greatest  deliberative 
body  which  so  far  the  world  has  seen." 

Important  as  were  the  legislative  acts  above  enumerated, 
they  did  not  arouse  more  interest  than  a  measure  appertaining 
to  the  Established  Church  which  was  passed  in  1898.  This 
measure,  which  was  called  the  Benefices  Act,  was  aimed  to 
rectify  abuses  in  the  bestowal  of  church  patronage ;  but  the  dis- 
cussion of  it  led  to  a  consideration  of  the  extravagant  practices 
of  the  Ritualists.  Sir  William  Harcoiirt  denounced  the  Ritu- 
alists in  the  severest  terms,  declaring  that  there  existed  in  the 
Church  of  England  a  conspiracy  to  overthrow  the  principles  of 
the  English  Reformation ;  that  priests  publicly  and  secretly 
violated  the  oaths  they  had  taken;  and  that  the  bishops  did 
not  discourage  the  appointment  and  promotion  of  such  offenders. 

As  the  Benefices  Act  was  not  primarily  concerned  with  the 
question  of  ritualistic  offences,  the  accusations  of  Sir  William 
Harcourt  were  not  wholly  called  for;  at  the  same  time  they 


CHAP.  IV  RECENT   EVENTS  327 

were  a  natural  expression  of  existing  feeling.  For  all  England 
had  become  excited  over  the  doings  of  the  Ritualists,  who  not 
only  set  the  moderate  Church  party  at  defiance,  but  were  guilty 
of  illegal  conduct.  The  Church  oi  England  being  an  estab- 
lished church,  its  form  of  worship  is  prescribed  by  law  in  the 
Book  of  Common  Prayer.  But  the  Ritualists  have  adopted 
many  ecclesiastical  practices  not  authorized  by  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer,  and  in  other  ways  have  refused  to  admit  that 
the  Church  is  subject  to  the  civil  law.  This  position  they 
maintain  in  all  honesty,  and  sometimes  with  entire  candor  and 
moderation ;  ^  but  their  practices  have  caused  dissension  in  the 
Church  and  have  roused  vehement  hostility  among  the  Dissen- 
ters, who  are  easily  swayed  by  the  English  hatred  of  Catholicism. 
Hence  their  position  has  a  political  bearing,  for  it  has  given 
life  to  the  cause  of  disestablishment.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
the  schism  in  the  Church  has  weakened  it  in  the  eyes  of  the 
nation ;  and  many,  who  fear  that  its  ritualistic  tendencies  will 
lead  its  members  into  the  pale  of  Rome,  desire  to  terminate  its 
political  existence.  But  the  memories  and  traditions  of  four 
centuries  will  not  easily  die.  The  Church  of  England,  with  its 
grand  historic  past,  is  one  of  the  most  splendid  and  imposing 
institutions  of  the  world.  Even  the  Dissenters  recognize  its 
power  and  greatness,  and  the  slow,  conservative  English  temper 
must  change  essentially  before  it  robs  this  mighty  ecclesiastical 
edifice  of  the  nation's  pledged  support. 

As  the  nineteenth  century  closes,  it  finds  the  English  nation 
progressive,  vigorous,  and  great.  With  wise  conservatism  it 
has  wrought  reforms  Avithout  losing  its  moderation  and  self- 
control.  It  has  given  rights  to  the  many,  but  it  still  gives 
leadership  to  the  few.  It  has  recognized  the  principles  of 
democracy,  but  it  has  clung  to  aristocratic  usage  and  tradition. 
Never  forgetting  that  its  strength  lies  in  sea-power^  it  main- 
tains the  mightiest  navy  that  the  world  has  ever  seen,  and 
abides  secure  against  assault  upon  its  island  home.  Here,  then, 
is  its  seat  of  dominion  and  the  centre  of  its  wide  imperial 
sway.  But  its  sons  and  daughters  seek  far  lands,  increase  and 
multiply,  and  make  jungle,  hill,  and  valley  echo  with  the  music 
of  the  Saxon  tongue.     Beneath  their  civilizing  touch  new  wil- 

1  "  The  English  Church  Union  Declaration,"  in  the  Contemporary  Review 
for  April,  181)9. 


328  GREAT   BRITAIN  AND   HER   COLONIES  book  ii 

dernesses  blossom  into  beauty,  new  nations  rise,  new  institu- 
tions mark  the  path  of  progress.  And  as  one  Colony  after 
another  develops  its  own  vigorous  life,  the  power  of  England 
waxes  strong  and  great.  For  the  peoples  of  these  distant 
countries  do  not  forget  their  splendid  English  inheritance,  but 
take  increasing  pride  in  their  connection  with  the  mother-land. 
And  thus  there  is  rising  up  a  mighty  power  whose  destiny 
no  man  can  measure  or  comprehend.  The  descent  of  Hengist 
and  Horsa  upon  the  isle  of  Britain  laid  the  foundation  of  a 
vast  political  edifice  that  reaches  around  the  world.  Its  strength 
lies  in  its  sincerity.  The  Anglo-Saxon  has  always  built  in  a 
stern  and  rugged  temper,  which  respected  little  besides  clear- 
grained  human  worth.  Hence,  from  the  beginning  the  subject 
met  his  king  as  a  peer,  despised  the  mere  pomp  and  show  of 
power,  and  stubbornly  asserted  his  rights  with  the  sword  when- 
ever those  rights  were  denied.  And  the  result  of  this  strong 
self-assertion  was  liberty.  Through  the  vicissitudes  and  the 
rough  experiences  of  a  thousand  years  the  English  have  been 
free  men.  Respecting  authority,  they  have  yet  been  their  own 
masters  and  have  recognized  no  power  that  did  not  spring  from 
the  people  themselves.  So  the  record  of  the  nineteenth  century 
merely  completes  the  story  of  a  long  and  splendid  career.  It 
shows  how  the  people  of  England  at  last  came  fully  into  their 
own. 

Great  Britain  has  an  area  of  120,832  square  miles  and  a 
population  of  about  38,000,000.  The  government  is  a  consti- 
tutional monarchy ;  but  the  Constitution  is  unwritten.  The 
sovereign  appoints  the  Prime  Minister,  assembles  and  dissolves 
Parliament,  and  without  the  signature  of  the  sovereign  the 
acts  of  Parliament  are  not  legal.  But  in  all  these  matters  he 
is  but  the  servant  of  the  people  and  has  no  will  of  his  own. 
His  power  of  creating  peers  is  unrestricted. 

The  Parliament  of  the  nation  consists  of  the  House  of  Lords 
and  the  House  of  Commons.  All  of  the  English  peers  sit  in 
the  House  of  Lords,  and  besides  them  26  bishops,  16  Scottish 
peers  elected  for  the  duration  of  Parliament,  and  28  Irish  peers 
elected  for  life.  The  presiding  officer  of  the  House  of  Lords 
is  the  Lord  High  Chancellor,  who  is  a  member  of  the  Cabinet 
and  is  always  appointed  for  life. 


CHAP.  IV  RECENT   EVENTS  329 


The  House  of  Commons  consists  of  670  members.  Of  these, 
495  represent  England,  72  Scotland,  and  103  Ireland.  The 
only  qualification  necessary  in  order  to  be  a  member  of  Parlia- 
ment is  to  have  reached  the  age  of  twenty-one.  No  peers  can 
be  elected  to  the  House  of  Commons  except  those  of  Ireland. 

No  Parliament  can  sit  longer  than  seven  years.  At  the  end 
of  that  time  the  House  of  Commons  is  necessarily  dissolved 
by  the  sovereign.  But  the  course  of  events  usually  brings 
about  a  dissolution  before  the  term  of  seven  years  has  expired. 

The  executive  business  of  the  nation  is  really  performed 
by  the  Cabinet,  though  it  is  nominally  vested  in  the  sover- 
eign. One  or  two  Cabinet  offices  are  filled  by  peers ;  the 
rest  by  members  of  the  House  of  Commons,  who,  after  re- 
ceiving their  appointment,  must  be  reelected  by  their  con- 
stituencies. 

The  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  is  the  established  Church 
of  England.  Theoretically,  every  Englishman  is  a  member  of 
it;  but  its  actual  members  comprise  a  little  more  than  half  of 
the  population,  or  about  15,000,000.  Its  annual  income  is  about 
$15,000,000.  The  sovereign  is  its  supreme  head.  In  Scotland 
the  Presbyterian  Church  is  established ;  but  its  connection  with 
the  government  is  not  close  and  vital,  as  it  has  no  bishops  to 
sit  in  the  House  of  Lords  and  receive  their  appointment  from 
the  Crown.  England  is,  in  proportion  to  her  population,  the 
richest  country  in  the  world.  Probably  her  wealth  is  not  less 
than  $60,000,000,000.  Her  chief  source  of  wealth  is  her  man- 
ufactures, which  are  exported  all  over  the  world.  And  her 
manufacturing  interests  have  owed  their  prosperity  largely  to 
her  vast  supply  of  coal.  Such  enormous  demands  have  been 
made  upon  the  supply  that  the  thoughtful  minds  of  the  nation 
have  already  begun  to  view  with  concern  the  time  when  it 
will  be  exhausted;  but  that  time  will  not  come  for  many  years, 
and  when  it  does  science  will  possibly  have  found  a  substitute 
for  it.  The  imports  of  England  are  even  larger  than  her 
exports,  and  consist  chiefly  of  food-stuffs.  Eor  England  is 
too  densely  populated  to  produce  the  needed  supplies  from 
her  own  soil. 

The  annual  expenditure  has  increased  all  through  the  cen- 
tury, and  has  now  reached  a  total  of  about  $500,000,000. 
Nearly  one  quarter  of  this  large  expenditure  is  occasioned  by 


330  GREAT   BRITAIN   AND   HER   COLONIES  book  ii 

the  interest  charges  upon  the  national  debt,  which  was  brought 
to  the  enormous  figure  of  £801,039,049  (or  about  $4,300,000,000) 
by  the  costly  Napoleonic  wars.  But  it  has  been  England's 
policy  to  reduce  the  debt  every  year,  and  in  1899  it  amounted 
to  not  very  much  more  than  .^3,000,000,000.  It  will  be  con- 
siderably increased,  however,  by  the  unfortunate  war  in  South 
Africa. 

Owing  to  her  sea-coast  defence,  England  does  not  need  to 
maintain  a  large  standing  army,  but  trusts  to  her  navy  for 
protection  and  for  the  maintenance  of  her  power.  She  has  a 
little  over  200,000  men  under  arms,  including  those  who  serve 
in  India.  Her  navy  is  the  largest  and  strongest  in  the  world, 
and  she  spends  much  energy  and  money  in  keeping  it  so. 


CHAPTEE  V 

CANADA 

It  was  a  vast  and  goodly  territory  that  England  acquired  by 
Wolfe's  victory  on  tlie  Plains  of  Abraham  in  1759.  For,  Quebec 
once  captured,  all  Canada  fell  inevitably  into  the  hands  of  its 
conquerors ;  and  Canada  has  proved  to  be  one  of  the  richest 
countries  in  the  world.  Its  area  is  nearly  as  extensive  as  that 
of  the  United  States;  its  mineral  and  agricultural  wealth  is 
almost  inexhaustible ;  its  forests  will  last  for  centuries. 

But  at  the  close  of  the  Seven  Years'  War  this  region  was 
sparsely  settled  and  its  value  was  little  appreciated.  Its  in- 
habitants, exclusive  of  the  Indians,  did  not  number  much  more 
than  sixty  thousand,  and  their  civilization  was  of  a  very  primi- 
tive type.  Mostly  French  and  half-breeds,  they  had  had  no 
training  whatever  in  self-government.  Canada  had  yet  to 
acquire  the  Anglo-Saxon  instinct  for  political  development.  But 
this  instinct  was  very  soon  implanted  in  the  minds  of  her  peo- 
ple. The  triumph  of  the  American  Colonies  in  their  struggle 
with  the  mother-country  secured  for  Canada  a  large  inflow  of 
English-speaking  citizens;  for  the  Loyalists,  finding  their  posi- 
tion in  the  new  republic  intolerable,  emigrated  to  Canada  and 
Nova  Scotia.  Altogether  some  thirty  thousand  of  them  found 
a  new  home  in  these  regions,  where  their  loyalty  to  the  Eng- 
lish flag  brought  them  honor  instead  of  insult.  And  with  their 
advent  the  struggle  for  responsible  government  really  began. 

And  immigrants  came  also  from  the  mother-country.  New 
Brunswick  was  largely  settled  by  the  English ;  and  not  less 
than  twenty-five  thousand  Scotch  Highlanders  found  homes  in 
Prince  Edward  Island  and  Cape  Breton.  Tlierefore,  as  the 
population  increased,  new  divisions  of  the  country  became 
necessary.  New  Brunswick  and  Cape  Breton  were  made  sepa- 
rate provinces  in  1784,  though  the  latter  district  was  I'cunited 

331 


332  GREAT   BRITAIN   AND   HER   COLONIES  book  ii 

to  Nova  Scotia  in  1820 ;  and  in  1791  the  English  Parliament 
passed  an  act  separating  Upper  and  Lower  Canada.  Each  of 
these  provinces  was  allowed  its  own  Governor,  Legislative 
Council,  and  House  of  Assembly ;  and  the  Governor  was 
assisted  by  an  advisory  board  with  executive  powers,  termed 
the  Executive  Council.  Quebec  was  made  the  capital  of  Lower 
Canada.  The  capital  of  Upper  Canada  was  at  first  Magaia  and 
afterward  Toronto.  Quite  a  difference  there  was  in  the  char- 
acter and  population  of  these  two  provinces,  and  it  was  largely 
on  that  account  that  the  separation  Avas  made  by  the  English 
Parliament.  For  Lower  Canada,  whose  population  Avas  almost 
entirely  French,  had  about  125,000  inhabitants;  while  in 
Upper  Canada  there  were  scarcely  20,000  people  and  these 
were  largely  English.  Thus  the  English,  by  being  set  apart 
in  a  province  of  their  own,  were  protected  from  French  control. 

But  in  the  French  province,  as  well  as  in  the  English,  there  was 
a  steady  growth  toward  constitutional  government.  The  French, 
though  at  times  disaffected,  were  on  the  Avhole  loyal  to  the  Eng- 
lish Government.  This  the  United  States  more  than  once  found 
to  its  cost.  For  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  in  the  War  of 
1812  the  Americans  invaded  Canada  with  the  expectation  of 
finding  its  French  inhabitants  ready  to  throw  off  their  alle- 
giance to  Great  Ik-itain.  But  in  each  case  they  were  disappointed. 
None  of  the  French  would  take  the  field  against  their  own  Gov- 
ernment, and  some  of  them  fought  side  by  side  with  the  Eng- 
lish against  the  American  invaders.  Thus  the  Canadian  people 
grew  one  in  feeling  and  interest.  They  were  slowly  acquiring 
that  national  sentiment  which  is  to-day  their  most  striking 
characteristic. 

But  it  was  many  years  before  the  Canadas  obtained  the  right 
to  manage  their  own  affairs.  Although  the  people  were  repre- 
sented by  an  Assembly,  the  Governor,  with  the  help  of  the 
Executive  and  sometimes  of  the  Legislative  Council  also,  usu- 
ally usurped  the  power.  Hence,  government  was  not  carried 
on  without  a  good  deal  of  friction ;  for  both  in  Upper  and  in 
Lower  Canada  appeared  popular  leaders  who  made  a  stubborn 
stand  for  the  rights  of  the  people.  Unfortunately,  some  of 
these  leaders  were  hot-headed  and  unable  to  distinguish  between 
lawful  and  revolutionary  agitation.  Hence,  in  1837  there  broke 
forth  armed  rebellion  in  each  of  the  Canadas ;  and  the  upris- 


CHAP.  V  CANADA  333 

ing  was  not  immediately  suppressed.  But  the  home  Govern- 
ment dealt  leniently  with  these  outbreaks.  The  people  were 
not  made  angry  and  bitter  by  needlessly  harsh  treatment ;  and 
at  this  time  there  appeared  upon  the  scene  a  man  whose  influ- 
ence mightily  furthered  the  cause  of  responsible  government. 
In  1838  Lord  Durham  was  made  Governor-General  of  Canada. 
Acute,  just,  and  broad-minded,  he  was  not  content  with  merely 
suppressing  disaffection.  He  set  himself  to  ascertaining  the 
reasons  for  it,  and  the  means  of  bringing  it  to  an  end.  So  he 
invited  the  Governors  of  Nova  Scotia,  New  Brunswick,  New- 
foundland, and  Prince  Edward  Island  to  meet  him  at  Quebec; 
and  in  the  course  of  their  conference  they  considered  the  ques- 
tion of  forming  all  the  provinces  of  British  North  America  into 
one  confederation.  The  ideas  at  this  time  brought  forward  he 
introduced  in  a  report  to  Parliament,  which  was  clear,  broad, 
and  masterly.  It  recommended  that  the  provinces  should  be 
brought  together  by  a  new  legislative  union,  and  that  the  differ- 
ences of  race  and  language  should  thus  be  superseded  by  ques- 
tions of  local  interest. 

For  this  momentous  change  Canada  was  not  quite  ready,  nor 
did  Lord  Durham  long  continue  to  direct  her  affairs  ;  for,  owing 
to  a  disagreement  with  the  home  Government,  he  resigned  his 
office  after  holding  it  for  only  six  months.  But  his  influence  upon 
the  destiny  of  Canada  was  lasting;  and  although  many  years 
were  to  pass  by  before  his  scheme  could  be  carried  out  in  full, 
it  had  immediate  effect  upon  the  two  Canadas.  In  1841  these 
two  provinces  were  united  into  one,  and  were  placed  under  the 
control  of  a  Governor  appointed  by  the  Crown,  a  Legislative 
Council  also  chosen  by  the  Crown,  and  an  Assembly  of  eighty- 
four  members  elected  by  the  people.  There  was  also  an  Execu- 
tive Council  of  eight  members  whom  the  Governor  selected  from 
the  Legislative  Council  and  the  Assembly.  But  those  appointed 
from  the  Assembly  were,  like  the  members  of  the  English 
Cabinet  chosen  from  the  House  of  Commons,  obliged  to  obtain 
the  consent  of  their  constituents  by  standing  again  for  election. 
Municipal  government  also  received  development  at  this  time ; 
for  cities  and  towns  were  largely  intrusted  with  the  manage- 
ment of  their  own  affairs,  instead  of  being  controlled  by  the 
Legislature.  But  the  growth  in  this  direction  was  necessarily 
slow.     The  citizens  of  Canada  were  for  the  most  part  unaccus- 


334  GREAT   BRITAIN   AND   HER   COLONIES  book  ii 

tomed  to  the  New  England  system  of  town  government ;  and 
in  some  of  the  provinces  the  people  of  the  towns  were  not  at 
all  anxious  to  assume  the  responsibilities  of  self-government. 
New  Brunswick,  Nova  Scotia,  and  Prince  Edward  Island  were 
notably  backward  in  this  branch  of  political  development. 

The  capital  of  the  newly  constituted  province  was  first 
established  at  Kingston,  but  was  moved  to  Montreal  in  1844. 
But  this  city  did  not  long  retain  the  distinction  thus  con- 
ferred upon  it.  In  1850  the  Parliament  buildings  were  burned 
by  some  indignant  members  of  the  Conservative  party  who 
were  angry  with  Lord  Elgin,  the  Governor-General.  For 
nearly  ten  years  after  this  disgraceful  event  the  Parliament  sat 
alternately  at  Toronto  and  Quebec;  but  in  1858,  the  Queen 
chose  a  small  village,  named  Bytown,  on  the  Ottawa  Eiver,  as 
its  permanent  site.  Taking  now  the  name  of  Ottawa,  the  town 
steadily  grew  through  its  increased  importance,  and  now  has  a 
population  of  fifty  thousand. 

Meanwhile,  nearly  all  the  provinces  of  Canada  had  been 
growing  in  population,  in  prosperity,  and  in  institutional  life. 
In  1848,  responsible  government  was  adopted  in  New  Bruns- 
wick and  Nova  Scotia ;  and  in  1854  reciprocity  in  trade  was 
established  between  Canada  and  the  United  States.  Thus, 
developing  in  every  direction,  Canada  was  becoming  ready  for 
the  next  momentous  step  in  her  history,  that  of  confederation. 
The  various  provinces  could  not  indeed  remain  separate.  For 
a  hundred  years  they  had  been  passing  through  a  like  experi- 
ence, and  under  English  law  had  been  acquiring  the  English 
love  of  constitutional  liberty.  That  their  destinies  should  now 
be  united  seemed,  therefore,  the  logical  outcome  of  events. 
And  in  1867,  hardly  more  than  a  century  after  the  signing  of 
the  Peace  of  Paris,  the  union  which  had  been  recommended  by 
Lord  Durham  became  an  accomplished  fact.  A  conference  met 
at  Quebec  on  October  10,  1864,  to  consider  the  question  of  con- 
federation, and  to  it  all  the  different  provinces,  including  New- 
foundland, sent  delegates.  After  eighteen  days  of  discussion 
it  adopted  seventy-two  resolutions  which  were  at  once  accepted 
by  the  two  Canadas,  and,  after  some  hesitation,  by  New  Bruns- 
wick and  Nova  Scotia.  Newfoundland  rejected  them,  and 
still  remains  outside  the  Confederation.  Prince  Edward  Island 
was  unwilling  to  approve  them  at  the  time ;  but  in  the  course 


CHAP.  V 


CANADA  335 


of  a  few  years  it  abandoned  its  independent  attitude  and  joined 
the  union.  The  Confederation  thus  formed  was  called  the 
Dominion  of  Canada;  and  the  two  provinces  of  Upper  and 
Lower  Canada  were  termed,  respectively,  Ontario  and  Quebec. 
The  British  Parliament  endorsed  the  seventy-two  resolutions 
after  they  had  been  approved  by  the  provinces,  and  incor- 
porated most  of  them  in  the  British  North  America  Act,  which 
established  the  Confederation  and  which  gives  to  Canada  a 
written  Constitution.  For,  in  uniting,  the  provinces  were 
obliged  to  imitate  the  example  of  the  United  States,  and  base 
their  union  upon  a  written  compact  instead  of  depending 
upon  usage  and  tradition,  like  the  mother-country.  But  it  is  to 
be  noticed  that  the  Canadians  did  not  model  their  Constitution 
upon  that  of  the  United  States.  In  the  most  important  par- 
ticulars they  made  it  embody  English  political  usage,  as  will 
easily  be  made  apparent  by  a  brief  statement  of  its  principal 
features. 

I.  The  executive  power  is  vested  in  the  Crown,  which  is 
represented  by  a  Governor-General  appointed  for  five  years. 
This  official  has  full  power  over  the  army  and  navy,  and  he  can 
give  the  royal  assent  to  bills  passed  by  the  Legislature,  withhold 
it,  or  reserve  it  for  the  signification  of -the  royal  pleasure.  In  the 
latter  case  the  bill  has  no  force  unless  the  Governor-General 
signifies  the  royal  assent  to  it  within  two  years  from  the  day  it 
was  presented  to  him.  Even  when  the  Governor-General  gives 
the  royal  assent  to  a  bill,  the  act  can  be  annulled  by  the  English 
sovereign  in  Council  any  time  within  two  years  after  it  has  been 
received  by  the  royal  Secretary  of  State.  The  Governor-Gen- 
eral also  has  the  power  of  appointing  the  Lieutenant-Governors 
of  the  different  provinces.  He  is  assisted  by  a  Council,  which 
he  himself  appoints  and  which  he  has  power  to  remove. 

II.  The  legislative  power  is  vested  in  a  Senate  and  a  House 
of  Commons.  The  members  of  the  Senate  are  appointed  for 
life  by  the  Governor-General,  and  their  number  is  not  to 
exceed  seventy-eight.  But  these  seventy-eight  members  are 
not  equally  distributed  among  the  several  provinces ;  for 
Ontario  and  Quebec  are  represented  by  twenty-four  each,  Nova 
Scotia  and  New  Brunswick  by  ten  each.  Prince  Edward  Island 
by  four,  and  British  Columbia  and  Manitoba  by  three  each. 
Moreover,  the  relations  of  the  Senate  and  the  House  of  Com- 


336  GREAT   BRITAIN   AND   HER   COLONIES  book  ii 

mons  do  not  closely  resemble  those  of  the  Senate  and  the 
House  of  Representatives  in  the  United  States,  but  are  deter- 
mined by  the  rules  and  traditions  that  govern  the  two  English 
Houses  of  Parliament.  The  members  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons are  elected  b}'-  the  people  for  five  years.  But  the  Gov- 
ernor-General can  dissolve  the  House  whenever  he  sees  fit. 
The  House  has  power  to  originate  all  bills  for  the  appropriation 
of  revenue  or  for  imposing  taxes,  but  only  for  purposes  that 
have  been  recommended  by  the  Governor-General. 

III.  Exclusive  powers  are  given  to  the  provincial  legislatures 
in  regard  to  many  matters  wherein  the  States  of  the  American 
Union  likewise  have  sovereign  authority.  But  the  United  States 
Constitution  does  not  define  or  enumerate  these  powers ;  it  sim- 
ply grants  to  each  State,  in  virtue  of  its  sovereignty,  all  those 
powers  that  are  not  exclusively  delegated  to  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment. In  the  Dominion  Constitution,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
powers  of  the  provinces  as  well  as  those  of  the  Federal  Parlia- 
ment are  expressly  named,  in  order  that  conflicts  between  the 
central  authority  and  the  individual  members  of  the  Confeder- 
ation may,  so  far  as  possible,  be  avoided.  For  the  Canadians 
did  not  wish  to  see  the  question  of  state  rights  cause  those 
grave  disturbances  that  had  imperilled  the  permanence  of  the 
American  Union.  It  is  to  be  further  noticed  that  the  powers 
of  the  provinces  are  not  as  extensive  as  those  of  the  States  of 
the  Republic.  The  Governor-General  not  only  appoints  the 
LieiTtenant-Governors  of  the  provinces,  as  already  stated,  but 
removes  them  for  cause  when  he  so  pleases.  The  provinces, 
moreover,  do  not  have  their  own  courts  corresponding  to  the 
State  courts  in  the  United  States,  nor  can  they  determine  the 
salaries  of  lieutenant-governors  and  judges,  as  that  is  done  by 
the  Parliament  of  the  Dominion.  ISTor  do  the  provincial  legis- 
latures have  absolute  control  over  education ;  for  denominational 
schools  are  specially  protected  by  the  Constitution. 

IV.  As  has  just  laeen  stated,  the  courts  that  are  established 
throughout  the  Dominion  are  not  controlled  by  the  provinces ; 
for  the  judges  of  the  superior,  district,  and  county  courts  are 
appointed  for  the  most  part  by  the  Governor-General,  and  can 
be  removed  by  him  when  he  is  so  petitioned  by  the  Parliament 
of  the  Dominion.  But  neither  are  the  courts  of  Canada 
federal  courts,  as  the  word  ''  federal "  is  understood  in  the  United 


CHAP.  V  CANADA  337 

States.  For  only  two  of  tlieiu,  the  Supreme  Court  of  Canada 
and  the  Exchequer  Court  at  Ottawa,  have  a  jurisdiction  that  is 
limited  to  federal  as  distinguished  from  local  or  provincial 
affairs.  And  not  even  these  courts  have  the  right  of  interpret- 
ing the  Constitution  and  the  legality  of  legislation  which  is 
possessed  by  the  Supreme  Bench  of  the  United  States.  For 
there  is  no  provision  in  the  Constitution  that  interferes  with 
the  English  sovereign's  prerogative  right  to  hear  appeals  from 
colonial  courts  before  the  Judicial  Committee  of  the  Privy 
Council.  Accordingly,  disputed  questions  regarding  the  Con- 
stitution have  from  time  to  time  been  brought  before  the 
Council,  and  have  been  decided  by  some  of  the  ablest  jurists 
in  England,  greatly  to  Canada's  benefit. 

Now  this  scheme  of  government,  when  carefixlly  studied,  is 
seen  to  contain  nearly  everything  that  is  vital  to  the  English 
representative  system.  The  Governor-General  represents  the 
Crown,  and  appoints  the  Premier,  the  colonial  term  for  Prime 
Minister,  who  holds  his  office  only  so  long  as  he  can  command 
a  parliamentary  majority.  If  he  loses  the  confidence  of  his 
party,  or  if  his  party  goes  out  of  power,  he  resigns,  and  the 
one  who  best  represents  the  dominant  party  is  appointed  in  his 
place.  By  this  usage  the  legislative  branch  of  government 
and  the  executive,  that  is,  the  Premier,  are  always  kept  in 
sympathy;  while  in  the  United  States  the  President  often 
finds  himself  confronted  by  a  hostile  majority  in  Congress 
because  his  party  has  been  defeated  at  the  polls  before  his 
term  of  office  expired.  Thus  it  appears  that  the  executive 
more  truly  represents  the  people  in  England  and  Canada  than 
he  does  in  the  United  States.  And  in  other  respects  the 
Canadian  system,  showing  as  it  does  the  English  deference 
to  the  Crown  and  to  official  authority,  protects  the  interests  of 
the  public  and  secures  a  pure  and  efficient  administration  of 
affairs.  Important  measures  of  legislation  originate  from  the 
Ministry,  and  not,  as  in  the  United  States  Congress,  from 
committees  who  are  frequently  the  mere  mouthpiece  of  the 
lobby.  The  civil  service  is,  as  in  England,  conducted  on 
purely  business  principles,  instead  of  being  used  to  bestow 
rewards  on  zealous  partisans.  Even  the  Speaker  of  the  House 
of  Commons  is  expected  to  treat  his  political  opponents  with 
impartial   justice.      Moreover,   party   interests   are   kept   out 


338  GREAT   BRITAIN   AND   HER   COLONIES  book  ii 

of  city  politics,  to  the  great  advantage  of  clean  and  honest 
government.^ 

For  all  these  reasons  the  thoughtful  people  of  Canada  are 
well  satisfied  with  their  system  of  government,  and  do  not 
care  to  join  their  fortunes  with  those  of  the  great  neighboring 
republic.  Yet  this  is  a  fact  which  the  government  and  people 
of  the  United  States  have  been  very  slow  to  recognize.  The 
dislike  for  England  which  is  so  common  in  America  inclines 
its  citizens  to  think  that  the  Canadians  cannot  help  desiring 
annexation  to  the  United  States  rather  than  continued  subjec- 
tion to  Great  Britain.  Hence,  the  policy  of  the  American 
government  toward  Canada  has  not  been  wholly  wise.  It  has 
been  shaped  with  reference  to  bringing  about  annexation,  in- 
stead of  encouraging  the  fullest  and  freest  commercial  relations 
with  a  neighboring  people  that  is  reasonably  sure  to  have  a 
different  destiny.  Nor  have  the  Canadians  always  showed  a 
friendly  spirit  toward  the  United  States.  Consequently,  fre- 
quent misunderstandings  and  antagonisms  have  arisen  between 
the  two  peoples.  During  the  American  Civil  War  many 
Canadians  exasperated  the  North  by  showing  an  active  sym- 
pathy with  the  Confederate  cause.  Partly  through  resentment 
at  this  conduct  and  partly  through  sympathy  with  the  doctrines 
of  protection,  the  United  States  Congress  decided  in  1864  to 
bring  the  reciprocity  treaty  to  an  end.  That  this  action  was 
unfortunate  for  Canada  cannot  be  denied  ;  that  it  was  equally 
unfortunate  for  the  United  States  is  believed  by  the  opponents 
of  protection. 

Yet,  notwithstanding  the  interruption  to  free  commercial 
intercourse  with  the  United  States,  the  Dominion  of  Canada 
grew  and  prospered  under  its  new  Constitution.  At  the  time 
when  the  Union  was  accomplished  the  population  of  Canada 
was  not  much  above  3,000,000.  As  the  end  of  the  century 
approaches,  the  inhabitants  of  the  country  number  over 
5,000,000,  and  show  many  signs  of  vigorous  and  progressive 
life.  Since  the  Confederation  was  established,  not  only  Prince 
Edward  Island,  but  the  provinces  of  Manitoba,  Keewatin,  Assin- 

1  For  a  comparison  of  the  American  and  the  Canadian  systems  consult  the 
introductory  cliapter  of  A.  H.  F.  Lefroy's  "  The  Law  of  Legislative  Power  in 
Canada";  also  an  excellent  paper  by  J.  S.  Bourinot  on  Parliamentary  Gov- 
ernment in  Canada,  in  the  Annual  Report  of  the  American  Historical  Associa- 
tion for  1891,  particularly  pp.  368  tt  seq. 


CHAP.  V  CANADA  339 

iboia,  Saskatchewan,  Alberta,  Athabasca,  and  British  Columbia 
have  been  added  to  it.  These  western  provinces  have  for  the 
most  part  been  formed  out  of  land  obtained  from  the  Hudson 
Bay  Company.  That  powerful  Company  long  clung  jealously 
to  its  vast  territories,  and,  desiring  to  use  them  solely  as  a 
source  of  fur  supply,  it  resisted  all  attempts  to  develop  their 
agricultural  and  mineral  resources.  But  in  1869  it  surrendered 
them  to  the  Crown  for  the  sum  of  $1,500,000 ;  retaining  at  the 
same  time  certain  special  rights  and  privileges.  Thus  some  of 
the  richest  and  most  fertile  tracts  in  the  world  were  opened  to 
civilization,  and  are  slowly  becoming  populated.  But  not  with- 
out difficulty  were  they  reclaimed  from  the  semi-barbarous  life 
that  prevailed  under  the  regime  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company. 
Their  population  of  half-breeds  and  Indians  resisted  the  advance 
of  law  and  order,  and  had  to  be  suppressed  by  armed  force. 
Louis  Riel,  wdio  had  a  mixture  of  Indian  blood  in  his  veins, 
though  his  father  was  a  white,  stirred  up  a  rebellion  in  the 
Red  Rivet  region  in  1870 ;  and  under  this  same  leader  a  far 
more  formidable  outbreak  occurred  in  the  Saskatchewan  dis- 
trict in  1885.  In  this  second  uprising  the  Canadian  troops  met 
with  one  or  two  severe  reverses.  The  people  of  Canada  became 
exasperated  with  the  man  who  caused  such  needless  bloodshed  ; 
and,  when  finally  the  rebellion  was  crushed,  Riel  was  tried  for 
treason  and  executed.^ 

There  have  been  in  Canada,  as  in  the  United  States,  two 
leading  political  parties,  but  their  historical  development  has 
not  been  the  same  in  the  two  countries.  In  the  United  States 
the  two  opposing  principles  of  centralization  and  state  rights 
came  into  conflict  immediately  after  the  Constitution  was 
adopted,  and  they  dominated  the  political  field  for  more  than 
half  a  century.  In  Canada  there  have  been  indeed  those  who 
were  for  and  those  who  were  against  Confederation;  but  the 
powers  of  the  central  Government  could  not  be  questioned  as 
they  have  been  in  the  United  States,  for  those  powers  are 
determined  by  the  Crown  through  the  English  Parliament.  So 
the  only  questions  on  which  the  two  parties  could  divide  have 
been  those  of  progress  and  financial  policy.  The  Conservatives 
have  been  averse  to  radical  measures  of  reform,  and  have  reso- 

1  The  rebellion  headed  by  Kiel  and  the  legality  of  his  sentence  are  discussed 
in  the  Political  Science  Qiua-lerli/,  2  :  135. 


340  GREAT   BRITAIN   AND   HER   COLONIES  book  ii 

lutely  clung  to  the  policy  of  protection ;  the  Liberals  are  in 
favor  of  free  trade  and  of  more  liberal  and  progressive  meas- 
ures in  politics  and  education.  But  the  latter  have  had  little 
opportunity  to  carry  out  their  ideas  ;  for,  with  the  exception  of 
one  period  of  five  years'  duration,  the  Conservatives  were  in 
power  from  1867  until  1896.  Their  leader  during  most  of  this 
time  was  Sir  John  Macdonald,  a  shrewd,  ambitious  man,  who 
sometimes  resorted  to  unscrupulous  methods  to  advance  the 
interests  of  his  party. ^  Yet  he  had  great  ability,  and  that  he 
conferred  upon  Canada  many  substantial  benefits  can  hardly  be 
denied. 

Some  important  questions  came  up  for  consideration  during 
his  administration  of  affairs.  The  Canadian  Pacific  Railroad 
was  first  projected  in  1871,  and,  not  without  causing  some 
political  scandals,  was  finally  completed  in  1885.  It  was  a 
charge  of  corrupt  use  of  power  in  furthering  this  enterprise 
that  caused  Macdonald  to  resign  in  1879 ;  and  in  his  further 
dealings  with  the  railroad  corporation  he  showed  a  most  rep- 
rehensible carelessness  of  the  public  interests,  even  though 
dishonesty  could  not  be  charged  against  him.  The  growth  of 
the  tracts  along  the  road  has  been  greatly  retarded  by  the 
unwise  grants  that  were  made  to  this  corporation.^ 

Protection  became  a  living  issue  in  1878.  At  that  time  there 
was  a  depression  in  trade  and  business,  and  to  secure  the  vic- 
tory of  their  party  the  Conservatives  advocated  a  protective 
policy.  They  promised  better  times  if  they  were  elected ;  the 
people,  in  their  desire  for  prosperity,  believed  them ;  and  the 
elections  gave  them  a  handsome  majority.  True  to  their  prom- 
ises, the  Conservatives,  under  the  lead  of  Sir  John  Macdonald, 
began  to  tax  imports  in  order  to  encourage  home  manufactures. 
As  a  result  the  manufacturers  flourished,  and  insisted  that  the 
duties  should  be  retained  and  even  increased.  That  Sir  John 
Macdonald  met  them  before  every  election  and  granted  their 
demands  was  one  of  the  well-known  facts  of  Canadian  politics. 
But  whether  Canada  has  prospered  by  adopting  the  policy  of 
protection  is  doubtful.  The  Conservatives  honestly  believe 
that  this  course  has  been  beneficial  to  the  country ;  but  the 

1  Westminster  Review,  137  :  478. 

2  Alternate  blocks  a  mile  long  were  given  to  the  railroad  all  along  its  route. 
—  Ihid. 


CHAP.  V  CANADA  341 

Liberals  claim  that  protection  has  checked  commercial  growth, 
and  caused  a  million  people  to  leave  Canada  on  account  of  the 
stagnation  in  business.  Between  these  contradictory  claims 
every  one  will  decide  according  to  his  economic  convictions. 

Very  early  after  Macdonald's  rise  to  power  the  fisheries 
question  began  to  give  trouble.  Althougli  the  American  fisher- 
men lost  their  unrestricted  rights  to  fish  in  Canadian  waters 
when  the  reciprocity  treaty  was  terminated  in  1866,  they 
regained  them  in  1871 ;  for  in  the  Treaty  of  Washington 
reciprocity  in  regard  to  the  fisheries  and  their  products  was 
established,  the  United  States  agreeing  to  pay  Canada  for  the 
privileges  conceded.  For  in  the  matter  of  fisheries  reciprocity 
was  worth  much  more  to  the  United  States  than  to  Canada. 
But  how  large  a  sum  should  be  paid  was  not  determined  by 
the  treaty,  and  it  was  through  the  energies  of  the  Liberal 
Premier,  Alexander  Mackenzie,  that  a  commission  w^as  ap- 
pointed in  1877  to  fix  the  amount  of  the  compensation.  The 
commission  decided  that  the  sum  should  be  $5,500,000.  This 
amount  the  United  States  paid;  but,  deeming  the  award  ex- 
cessive, it  gave  notice  that  it  desired  the  termination  of  the 
reciprocity  agreement,  which  accordingly  came  to  an  end  on 
July  1,  1885.  So  Americans  could  now  fish  in  Canadian 
waters  only  in  accordance  with  the  Treaty  of  1818.  But  the 
meaning  of  some  terms  in  this  treaty  was  disputed,  and  trouble 
consequently  arose.  The  Americans  claimed  privileges  Avhich 
the  Canadians,  supported  by  England,  were  unwilling  to  allow.^ 
In  particular,  American  fishermen  believed  that  they  had  the 
right  to  purchase  bait  and  to  enter  bays  more  than  six  miles 
wide;  but  in  living  up  to  this  belief  they  met  with  disaster. 
Their  vessels  were  captured  by  Canadian  cruisers  and  fined  by 
Canadian  authorities.  Whether  or  not  this  action  was  justifi- 
able, it  caused  great  indignation  in  the  United  States ;  and  to 
settle  all  disputed  points  in  regard  to  the  fisheries,  an  inter- 
national commission  was  appointed  by  Great  Britain  and  the 
United  States  in  1887.  But  the  United  States  refused  to 
ratify  the  agreement  made  by  the  commission,  and  the  fish- 
eries question  remained  as  a  menace  to  good  feeling. 

Nor  was  the  understanding  between  Canada  and  the  United 
States  made  better  by  the  dispute  over  the  Bering  Sea  seal  fish- 

1  The  Forum,  4 :  349. 


342  GREAT   BRITAIN   AND    HER   COLONIES  book  ii 

eries.  The  Canadians  persisted  in  the  practice  of  pehagic  seal- 
ing, which  tends  to  exterminate  the  seals  by  destroying  them 
when  they  are  with  young.  To  put  a  stop  to  this  practice,  the 
Americans  seized  several  Canadian  sealing  vessels  in  Bering  Sea, 
claiming  that  the  waters  within  sixty  miles  of  the  coast  of  Alaska 
were,  by  rights  long  since  established  when  Russia  owned  the 
territory,  under  the  control  of  the  United  States.  T'his  claim 
was  disallowed  by  a  court  of  arbitration  which  met  at  Paris  in 
1893 ;  but  to  prevent  the  extermination  of  the  seals  the  court 
advised  against  killing  them  from  May  1  to  July  21.  This 
recommendation  was  adopted  by  Great  Britain  and  the  United 
States,  and  was  enforced  by  cruisers  of  both  countries.  But 
pelagic  sealing  still  went  on,  for  Great  Britain,  through  fear 
of  offending  Canada,  refused  to  join  with  the  United  States  in 
stopping  it.  Hence  the  seals  were  in  danger  of  extermination, 
and  the  United  States  became  anxious  for  a  reopening  of  the 
question.  After  an  extensive  diplomatic  correspondence  the 
Governments  of  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  agreed 
that  experts,  representing  both  countries,  should  meet  and 
thoroughly  consider  the  important  points  at  issue.  Experts 
were  accordingly  appointed,  and  met  at  Washington  in  October, 
1897.  They  agreed  that  the  number  of  the  seals  was  diminish- 
ing, and  that  pelagic  sealing  was  largely  responsible  for  the 
decrease,  although  the  herd  was  not  in  danger  of  extermina- 
tion provided  the  numbers  killed  on  land  were  not  excessive. 
The  experts  also  found  that  the  death-rate  among  females  and 
pups  was  great  because  of  indiscriminate  sea-killing. 

But  while  the  representatives  of  the  two  countries  could 
agree  upon  essential  facts,  they  found  it  impossible  to  adopt 
the  same  views  of  international  policy.  Mr.  J.  W.  Foster,  one 
of  the  American  experts,  proposed  on  behalf  of  the  United 
States  Government  that  the  Canadian  sealers  should  abstain 
from  pelagic  sealing  for  a  year,  and  that  the  United  States 
should  prevent  the  killing  of  seals  on  the  Pribiloff  Islands, 
where  the  seals  give  birth  to  their  young,  for  the  same  length 
of  time.  But  the  Canadian  Government  refused  to  consent  to 
this  proposal,  which  it  considered  prejudicial  to  the  interests 
of  the  Canadian  sealers,  and  the  practice  of  pelagic  sealing  was 
still  continued.  The  failure  of  the  Anglo-American  Commis- 
sion to  settle  this  question  is  elsewhere  recorded ;  and  owing 


CHAP.  V  CANADA  343 

to  the  unwillingness  of  the  Canadians  to  abandon  pelagic  seal- 
ing, a  satisfactory  adjustment  of  this  long-standing  difficulty 
cannot  be  easily  devised. 

The  year  1896  was  an  important  one  in  Canadian  annals,  as 
it  marked  the  advent  of  the  Liberal  part}^  to  power.  By  the 
general  elections  which  were  held  in  that  year,  118  Liberals 
were  returned  to  the  House  of  C!ommons  against  86  Conserva- 
tives and  8  Independents.  This  victory  was  in  some  measure 
due  to  the  personal  popularity  of  Sir  Wilfrid  Laurier,  the 
leader  of  the  Liberal  party.  A  French  Canadian  and  a 
Catholic,  Sir  Wilfrid  had  gained  the  confidence  of  the  Eng- 
lish Liberals  in  Canada  by  his  ability  and  his  rare  personal 
integrity.  As  leader  of  the  victorious  party  he  was  now 
made  Premier,  and  he  courageously  faced  the  difficult  prob- 
lems that  demanded  solution. 

Of  these  problems  none  was  more  perplexing  than  the  ^lani- 
toba  school  question.  Until  May,  1890,  the  Roman  Catholics 
of  Manitoba  had  had  separate  schools ;  but  by  an  act  passed  in 
that  year  by  the  legislature  of  the  Province  this  privilege  was 
taken  from  them.  As  they  claimed  that  this  act  was  illegal, 
and  deprived  them  of  a  right  that  was  guaranteed  by  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  Dominion,  the  matter  came  inevitably  before 
the  Dominion  Parliament.  Put  as  the  Catholics  and  the 
remaining  population  of  Manitoba  were  equally  obstinate,  it 
had  been  found  impossible  to  settle  the  difficulty.  Sir  Wilfrid 
Laurier's  position  in  the  matter  was  a  trying  one,  for  as  a 
Catholic  he  was  expected  to  sustain  his  own  church,  while  as 
a  Liberal  he  must  recognize  the  essential  justice  of  the  action 
of  the  Manitoba  Legislature.  For  the  Catholics  in  Manitoba 
were  so  few  in  numbers  that  the  expense  of  maintaining  sepa- 
rate schools  for  them  was  unreasonably  heavy.  But  the 
Premier  showed  much  tact  and  adroitness,  as  well  as  a  strong 
sense  of  justice  in  meeting  the  situation,  and  found  a  fairly 
satisfactory  solution  of  the  problem.  It  was  arranged  that  all 
schools  should  be  under  governmental  control,  and  that  educa- 
tional work  should  be  secular  until  the  last  half-hour  of  the 
school  day,  when  representatives  of  any  religious  bodies  should 
come  in  and  instruct  the  children  of  their  own  denominations, 
providing  the  parents  were  willing  to  have  thcni  reiiain. 
Moreover,    a   Catholic    teacher,    fully    qualified    according   to 


344  GREAT   BRITAIN   AND   HER   COLONIES  book  ii 

national  or  provincial  educational  standards,  was  to  be  pro- 
vided for  every  school  that  had  an  average  attendance  of 
twenty-five  Roman  Catholic  children. 

The  financial  situation  was  also  a  difficult  one.  As  a  Liberal, 
Sir  Wilfrid  Laurier  was  pledged  to  a  free  trade  policy  ;  but  the 
country  had  so  long  been  accustomed  to  a  protective  tariff  that 
duties  could  not  be  suddenly  and  materially  lowered  without 
seriously  disturbing  trade  and  commerce.  The  Government 
accordingly  decided  not  to  make  a  general  and  sweeping  reduc- 
tion in  the  duties;  at  the  same  time  it  adopted  a  policy  that 
was  in  keeping  with  Liberal  principles.  On  April  22, 1897,  Mr. 
W.  S.  Fielding,  the  Minister  of  Finance,  delivered  his  Budget 
speech  and  stated  that  the  Government  had  decided  to  free 
the  tariff  from  some  objectionable  specific  duties,  but  in  other 
respects  to  maintain  it  as  it  was  with  all  countries  that  would 
not  grant  reciprocity ;  but  to  establish  a  preferential  tariff 
which  would  apply  at  once  to  Great  Britain,  and  afterward  to 
any  country  that  would  grant  reciprocal  terms  to  Canadian 
products. 

This  tariff  was  adopted  by  the  House  of  Commons  and 
gave  great  satisfaction  to  Great  Britain,  where  Sir  Wilfrid 
Laurier  was  enthusiastically  received  on  the  occasion  of  the 
Queen's  Diamond  Jubilee  in  the  summer  of  1897.  All  of  the 
Premiers  of  England's  self-governing  Colonies  were  present  at 
the  Jubilee ;  none  received  such  marked  attention  as  Sir  Wil- 
frid Laurier.  As  the  head  of  Great  Britain's  largest  and  rich- 
est territorial  possession,  he  played  a  prominent  part  in  the 
conferences  that  were  then  held  over  the  great  question  of 
Imperial  Federation.^  If  such  a  federation  could  be  organ- 
ized, Canada,  next  to  Great  Britain,  would  be  its  most  impor- 
tant member  and  contribute  most  to  its  strength.  Yet  not  even 
Canada,  it  was  to  be  noticed,  was  looked  upon  as  a  nation.  For, 
great  as  was  the  respect  shown  to  the  Colonial  Premiers,  their 

iThe  advantages  and  the  desirability  of  federation  were  carefully  con- 
sidered in  these  conferences,  but  the  difficulties  of  the  problem  were  not 
ignored,  and  no  settled  plan  of  organization  was  arranged.  An  imperial  par- 
liament was  advocated  by  some,  while  others  considered  a  parliament  imprac- 
ticable and  were  in  favor  of  an  imperial  council.  The  English  papers  of  the 
period  contain  many  interesting  discussions  of  the  question.  Consult  the 
Times,  the  Speaker,  the  Spectator,  and  the  Saturday  Review  for  the  latter  part 
of  June  and  the  earlier  part  of  July,  1897. 


CHAP.  V  CANADA  345 

claim  to  represent  nations  rather  than  subject  Colonies  was  not 
allowed. 

A  more  difficult  task  than  any  other  which  Sir  Wilfrid 
Laurier  has  attempted  is  that  of  securing  free  commercial 
intercourse  Avith  the  United  States.  Contiguous  as  the  two 
countries  are,  inhabited  by  peoples  that  speak  the  same  lan- 
guage, and  separated  for  the  most  part  by  a  merely  artificial 
frontier,  they  could  hardly  fail  to  benefit  by  an  extensive  inter- 
change of  their  products.  But  as  Canada  greatly  needs  the 
manufactured  wares  of  the  United  States,  while  the  Uuited 
States,  on  the  other  hand,  is  well  supplied  with  nearly  all  those 
things  that  Canada  produces,  the  American  manufacturers  are 
very  loath  to  see  reciprocity  established  between  the  two  coun- 
tries. Their  view  of  the  question  prevails  in  the  United  States ; 
but  that  it  is  an  enlightened  and  patriotic  view  may  well  be 
questioned.  If  reciprocity  existed,  America  could  draw  freely 
upon  the  Canadian  supplies  of  coal  and  lumber,  and  could 
thus  delay  the  destruction  of  its  forests  and  the  exhaustion  of 
its  mines.  Accordingly,  in  presenting  the  Canadian  side  of 
this  important  question,  Sir  Wilfrid  Laurier  may  perform  a 
valuable  service  to  the  American  people. 

Neiofoundland 

Not  having  become  a  part  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada,  New- 
foundland calls  for  a  brief  separate  mention.  The  island  was 
discovered  in  1497  by  John  Cabot,  and  the  value  of  its  fisheries 
soon  became  known.  In  1583  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert  took  formal 
possession  of  the  island  for  Queen  Elizabeth  ;  but  the  French 
also  laid  claim  to  it,  and  it  was  not  till  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht 
was  agreed  upon  in  1713  that  the  dispute  between  the  two 
countries  was  settled.  By  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht  the  island  was 
ceded  to  England,  but  the  right  to  fish  and  to  cure  fish  on  the 
northern  coast  was  granted  to  the  French.  In  d783,  however, 
the  western  coast,  from  Cape  St.  John  to  Cape  Ray,  instead  of  the 
northern,  was  assigned  them  for  this  purpose.  But  the  conces- 
sion was  an  unfortunate  one,  for  it  led  to  continual  disputes 
and  retarded  the  development  of  that  portion  of  the  island. 
Even  at  the  present  day  the  grievance  continues,  and  the 
French  Shore  Question  has  become  an  important  issue  in  New- 


346  GREAT   BRITAIN   AND   HER   COLONIES  book  ii 

foundland  politics.  In  1898  the  matter  was  still  giving  so 
much  trouble  that  delegates  were  sent  to  England  to  secure  the 
appointment  of  a  royal  commission,  which  should  investigate 
the  condition  of  the  Colony  and  in  particular  inquire  into 
the  French  treaty  rights  upon  the  west  shore.  In  accordance 
with  this  request  commissioners  were  appointed  by  the  home 
Government. 

Representative  government  was  granted  to  Newfoundland  by 
the  British  Parliament  in  1832.  Household  suffrage  was  at 
that  time  established,  but  in  1887  the  franchise  was  extended 
to  all  male  adults.  The  Executive  consists  of  a  Governor, 
appointed  by  the  Crown,  and  an  Executive  Council  which  must 
not  exceed  seven  members.  The  legislative  branch  of  the 
government  is  composed  of  a  Legislative  Council,  whose'  mem- 
bers are  appointed  by  the  Governor  and  are  not  to  exceed  fif- 
teen: and  a  House  of  Assembly  of  thirty-six  members,  who  are 
elected  for  foiir  years.  Education  is  under  the  control  of  the 
different  religious  bodies  and  is  not  free.  The  island  has  an 
.  area  of  42,200  square  miles  and  a  population  of  about  200,000. 


CHAPTER  VI 

AUSTRALIA 

The  island,  or  fifth  continent,  Australia,  seems  to  have  been 
discovered  by  the  Portuguese  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  fifteenth 
century.  Terra  Australis  it  is  designated  on  the  maps  of  that 
period,  and  hence  the  name  Australia.  In  the  following  cen- 
tury it  was  several  times  reached  by  Dutch  navigators,  one  of 
whom,  Tasman,  discovered  in  1642  the  island  which  bears  his 
name ;  and  the  English  buccaneer,  Dampier,  visited  the  north- 
ern coast  of  Australia  in  1688.  But  no  attempt  was  made  to 
colonize  this  island-continent  till  the  English  began  to  send 
convicts  to  its  shores  shortly  after  they  were  deprived  of  their 
American  Colonies  by  the  Eevolution.  Their  attention  was 
turned  to  this  vast  and  unused  tract  by  the  celebrated  voyager. 
Captain  Cook.  He  conducted  a  scientific  expedition  to  its 
eastern  shore  in  1769,  and  reported  favorably  upon  its  capaci- 
ties. So  in  1787  a  fleet  of  eleven  vessels,  containing  696  con- 
victs, was  sent  to  this  unexplored  and  far-away  island ;  and  on 
January  26, 1788,  the  expedition  landed  near  the  spot  where 
stands  the  city  of  Sydney. 

From  this  inauspicious  beginning  grew  the  rich  and  splendid 
civilization  of  Australia.  For  many  years  the  country  was 
used  almost  entirely  as  a  receptacle  for  criminals ;  but  some 
free  settlers  also  found  their  way  there,  and  in  1839  the  prac- 
tice of  transporting  criminals  to  Australia  Avas  abandoned. 
Meanwhile  the  country  Avas  explored,  and  many  new  settle- 
ments were  made.  Thus,  gradually,  as  the  population  increased 
and  spread,  a  number  of  separate  provinces  were  established. 
The  original  province  where  the  convicts  were  transported  was 
termed  New  South  Wales,  because  its  shores  were  supposed  to 
resemble  the  southern  shores  of  Wales.  Tasmania  was  occu- 
pied in  1803,  and,  like  the  elder  province,  was  at  first  used  as 

347 


348  GREAT   BRITAIN   AND    HER   COLONIES  book  ii 

a  penal  settlement.  For  a  number  of  years  it  was  under  tlie 
control  of  New  South  Wales  ;  but  in  1825  it  was  made  a  sepa- 
rate province.  A  convict  station  was  established  in  Western 
Australia  in  1825.  Other  settlements  were  made  in  the  western 
district  not  long  afterward,  and  this  province  was  organized  by 
1829.  This  western  tract,  however,  was  destined  to  remain,  for 
a  long  time,  undeveloped  and  thinly  populated ;  while  the 
eastern  portion  of  the  island  had  a  far  more  fortunate  history. 
For  explorations  made  in  1813  showed  that  in  the  interior  of 
New  South  Wales,  beyond  the  Blue  Mountains,  lay  perhaps 
the  finest  sheep  pastures  in  the  world.  This  discovery  led  to 
a  rapid  settlement  of  the  province,  and,  as  its  fast  increasing 
population  pushed  onward,  it  was  found  that  the  same  magnifi- 
cent resources  were  possessed  by  the  adjoining  regions.  Vic- 
toria was  settled  in  1836 ;  and  a  company  was  established  in 
South  Australia  at  about  the  saine  time.  But  Victoria  did  not 
become  a  distinct  province  until  1851,  though  it  received  its 
name  some  ten  years  earlier ;  and  Queensland  had  no  inde- 
pendent existence  until  1859,  but  up  to  that  date  was  simply 
a  portion  of  New  South  Wales. 

Though  the  growth  of  Western  Australia  was  extremely 
slow,  South  Australia  and  New  South  Wales  (including  then 
Victoria  and  Queensland)  gained  rapidly  in  wealth  and  popula- 
tion. The  sheep  downs  of  these  provinces  were  so  favorable 
to  raising  sheep  that  Australian  wool  soon  gained  a  reputation 
the  world  over  for  the  fineness  of  its  quality,  and  was  in 
demand  in  all  manufacturing  countries.  So  the  sheep  owners 
grew  rich  and  their  numbers  multiplied.  By  the  middle  of  the 
century  Australia  had  a  population  of  over  300,000 ;  but  after 
the  discovery  of  mineral  wealth  the  increase  was  far  more 
rapid.  Copper  was  found  in  South  Australia  in  1842,  and  the 
mining  of  that  article  began  to  be  an  important  industry.  But 
this  addition  to  the  resources  of  the  country  awakened  no  wide- 
spread interest.  It  was  the  discovery  of  gold  in  1851  that 
created  wild  excitement  among  the  inhabitants  and  brought  im- 
migrants to  Australia  in  crowds.  The  discovery  "was  made  in 
New  South  Wales,  but  rich  mines  were  also  found  to  exist  in 
Victoria,  and  in  the  portion  of  New  South  Wales  that  became 
the  province  of  Queensland.  So  Australia  began  to  attract  the 
attention  of  the  whole  civilized  world.     Her  resources  were 


CHAP.  VI  AUSTRALIA  349 

rapidly  developed.  Her  products  multiplied.  Her  export  and 
import  trade  grew  steadily  in  volume.  In  1871  her  population 
had  increased  to  1,500,000 ;  in  1891  it  had  risen  to  over 
3,000,000,  and  it  is  nearly  5,000,000  at  the  close  of  the  cen- 
tury. The  largest  city  of  the  country  is  Melbourne,  in  Victoria, 
with  a  population  of  over  half  a  million;  but  Sydney,  in 
New  South  Wales,  is  a  formidable  rival,  not  being  much 
inferior  in  size  and  population,  and  having  in  its  university 
the  most  imposing  building  in  Australia. 

Since  1851  the  mining  industry  has  been  of  prime  impor- 
tance. Not  only  gold  and  copper,  but  silver,  lead,  tin,  and  coal 
have  been  mined  in  large  quantities  and  exported  to  Great 
Britain  and  other  countries.  As  a  gold-producing  country 
Australia  has  for  many  years  ranked  second  only  to  the  United 
States,  and  the  supply  is  by  no  means  exhausted.  It  is  prob- 
able that  for  a  long  time  to  come  the  gold  fields  of  Australia 
will  be  one  of  the  chief  sources  for  the  supply  of  this  precious 
metal,  though  their  yearly  output  is  now  greatly  surpassed  by 
that  of  South  Africa.  But  rich  as  are  the  mines  of  Australia, 
they  do  not  yield  as  great  a  revenue  as  that  derived  from  the 
soil.  The  yearly  return  from  wool,  tallow,  hides,  frozen  and 
salted  meats,  sugar,  fruits,  timber,  pearls  and  pearl  shells,  is 
enormous.  In  the  year  1805  the  total  value  of  the  exports 
was  nearly  $300,000,000.  Yet  the  country  is  still  very  sparsely 
settled  and  its  immense  resources  are  most  imperfectly  devel- 
oped. Though  larger  than  the  United  States  without  Alaska, 
it  has  not  a  tenth  of  the  population  of  the  latter  country,  and 
some  of  its  richest  and  most  fertile  tracts  are  almost  unknown 
and  unvisited.  Particularly  is  this  true  of  Western  Australia. 
This  province,  which  is  much  larger  than  any  of  the  others, 
has  as  yet  less  than  100,000  inhabitants ;  yet  its  resources  are 
pronounced  equal  to  those  of  South  Australia,  Queensland,  or 
New  South  Wales. ^  Its  gold  fields  are  among  the  richest  in 
Australia,  and  its  fertile  regions,  though  interspersed  with 
stretches  of  desert,  are  equal  to  those  of  the  more  populous 
provinces.  Hence  the  population  of  Australia  is  sure  to  grow 
rapidly,  and  the  volume  of  its  import  and  export  trade  must 
steadily  increase.  Not  indeed  that  the  country  can  escape  finan- 
cial reverses.  It  has  had  them  in  the  past;  it  will  certainly 
1  Westminstei'  Review,  137 :  482  et  seq. 


350  GREAT   BRITAIN   AND   HER   COLONIES  book  n 

have  thein  in  the  future.  It  is  frequently  afflicted  by  droughts, 
and  from  this  cause,  or  from  other  unfavorable  conditions, 
arise  panics,  failures,  and  stringency  in  the  money  market.  In 
1842  the  prosperity  of  JSew  South  Wales  was  suddenly  inter- 
rupted by  a  financial  crash  resulting  from  reckless  speculation 
and  inflated  prices.  A  more  widespread  depression  was  expe- 
rienced in  1893,  which  profoundly  affected  all  the  Australian 
Colonies.  Arising  in  part  from  an  excessively  free  use  of  the 
credit  system,  it  caused  a  number  of  banks  to  close  their  doors 
for  a  time,  occasioned  a  general  feeling  of  insecurity,  and 
injured  the  financial  standing  of  the  whole  country.  The  debt 
of  Australia  is  very  large,  amounting  to  about  $1,000,000,000, 
which  seems  an  enormous  sum  for  a  people  numbering  five 
millions  to  owe.  This  indebtedness  was  by  some  considered 
to  be  largely  the  cause  of  Australia's  financial  collapse,  and 
called  forth  attacks  upon  her  credit  and  prophecies  that 
greater  troubles  and  possible  bankruptcy  were  in  store  for  her. 
But  it  was  shown  by  those  thoroughly  acquainted  with  her 
financial  system  that  the  large  amount  of  the  public  debt  was 
due  to  peculiar  conditions,  and  could  not  be  fairly  judged  by 
the  ordinary  principles  that  govern  state  finance.^  More  than 
half  the  sums  borrowed  by  the  Australian  Colonies  have  been 
expended  on  railways,  without  which  the  commerce  of  so  thinly 
settled  a  country  could  never  have  been  developed.  It  is  not 
to  be  forgotten,  moreover,  that  Australia  is  a  very  wealthy 
country,  even  if  its  population  is  still  small.  In  its  gold  mines 
and  its  sheep  it  has  almost  inexhaustible  resources,  and  it  is 
therefore  warranted  in  spending  freely,  because  its  income  is 
so  great.  There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  it  will  carry 
its  burden  of  debt  without  feeling  impoverished,  and  will 
eventually  free  itself  from  encumbrance. 

The  political  development  of  Australia  has  been  commensu- 
rate with  its  material  prosperity.  Its  various  provinces  were 
originally  ruled  by  Governors  appointed  by  the  English  Crown, 
and  the  power  of  these  officials  was  practically  unlimited.  But 
the  growth  of  the  country  was  almost  steadily  toward  democ- 
racy. Its  settlers  brought  with  them  from  Great  Britain  the 
Anglo-Saxon  love  of  freedom ;  and  the  conditions  of  life  that 

1  "  The  Attack  on  the  Credit  of  Australia,"  The  Nineteenth  Century^ 
April,  18'J2. 


CHAP.  VI  AUSTRALIA  351 

prevailed  in  tliis  new  land,  where  each  man  was  dependent  for 
success  upon  his  own  energy  and  exertions,  encouraged  equality. 
One  brief  attempt  was  indeed  made  to  resist  these  levelling 
tendencies.  In  South  Australia  and  Victoria  the  first  settle- 
ments were  made  in  accordance  with  the  system  of  Edward 
Gibbon  Wakefield,  who  believed  that  the  social  distinctions 
which  are  made  in  England  should  be  rigidly  preserved.  But 
the  plan  of  life  he  devised  for  this  new  and  unsettled  region 
proved  wholly  artificial  and  resulted  in  failure.  The  democratic 
tendencies  of  the  settlers  were  too  strong  to  be  resisted  and 
had  their  way.  And  naturally  they  showed  themselves  in  the 
wish  for  representative  government.  As  early  as  1824  the 
Governor  of  New  South  Wales  allowed  a  small  body  of  men  to 
confer  with  him  in  regard  to  the  administration  of  affairs,  and 
this  body  was  termed  the  Executive  Council.  So  successful 
Avas  this  arrangement  that  in  1829  the  number  of  the  body  was 
enlarged  to  fifteen ;  its  name  was  changed  to  Legislative  Coun- 
cil, and  with  the  Governor  it  made  laws  for  the  Colony.  It  was 
not,  indeed,  a  perfect  representative  body.  It  was  not  chosen 
by  the  suffrages  of  the  people,  and  its  decisions  could  be  set 
aside  by  the  Governor.  Yet  its  creation  marks  the  beginning 
of  the  movement  which  resulted  in  democratic  and  constitu- 
tional government.  But  as  the  population  of  the  Colony 
increased,  the  desire  for  representation  gained  strength  and 
found  expression.  The  friends  of  the  movement  met  at  Sydney 
in  1842  and  resolved  to  petition  the  British  Parliament  for  a 
voice  in  the  management  of  their  affairs.  Their  petition  was 
granted.  A  new  Legislative  Council  was  created,  twenty-four 
of  whose  members  were  to  be  chosen  by  the  people,  while  the 
remaining  twelve  took  their  seats  by  right  of  office  or  through 
appointment  by  the  Governor.  In  1843  the  first  popular  elec- 
tion ever  known  in  Australia  was  held,  and  the  C'ouiicil  met  at 
Sydney  in  the  same  year. 

With  this  imperfect  system  of  representative  government 
the  Colony  remained  satisfied  for  a  period  of  ten  years.  But 
the  discovery  of  gold  in  Australia  in  1851  had  an  important 
effect  upon  the  political  development  of  the  country.  Its  pop- 
ulation grew  rapidly  ;  disorders  occurred  at  the  gold  fields  ;  the 
need  of  a  more  efficient  form  of  government  became  apparent. 
The  Legislative  Councils,  which  had  been  established  in  the 


352  GREAT   BRITAIN  AND    HER   COLONIES  book  ii 

other  Colonies  as  well  as  in  New  South  Wales,  did  not  suffi- 
ciently voice  the  will  of  the  people,  and  the  English  Parliament 
decided  that  these  far-away  and  rapidly  growing  states  should 
frame  their  own  Constitutions  and  assume  a  fuller  degree  of 
self-control.  Accordingly,  the  Legislative  Councils  which  were 
elected  in  1851  were  each  invited  by  Parliament  to  prepare 
such  a  Constitution  as  the  circumstances  and  conditions  of  their 
Colony  seemed  to  demand.  The  invitation  was  readily  accepted. 
New  South  AVales,  Victoria,  and  South  Australia  submitted 
Constitutions  which  were  approved  by  Parliament.  Queens- 
land did  the  same  when  it  was  separated  from  New  South 
Wales  in  1859.  Tasmania  received  a  Constitution  in  1885  and 
Western  Australia  in  1890.  Each  of  these  six  Colonies  now 
has  its  Parliament,  consisting  of  two  Houses,  the  Upper  being 
termed  the  Legislative  Council,  and  the  Lower  the  Legislative 
Assembly,  or  (in  Queensland  and  Tasmania)  the  House  of 
Assembly.  In  each  of  the  Colonies,  excepting  Tasmania,^  which 
requires  a  property  qualification,  the  Lower  House  is  chosen 
by  universal  manhood  suffrage,  though  in  South  Australia 
women  also  are  allowed  to  vote.  The  members  of  the  Upper 
House  are  in  some  of  the  Colonies  chosen  by  a  liniited  suffrage, 
and  in  others  are  appointed  by  the  Crown  for  life.  It  is  thus 
seen  that  Australia,  like  Canada,  has  to  some  extent  accepted 
English  political  traditions  and  to  some  extent  has  broken  loose 
from  them.  In  its  manner  of  electing  its  popular  House,  it  is, 
with  the  exception  of  Tasmania,  thoroughly  democratic ;  but 
it  has  refused  to  allow  its  Upper  House  to  be  chosen  even  indi- 
rectly by  the  whole  people.  Limited  suffrage  based  upon  prop- 
erty and  legislative  appointments  proceeding  from  the  authority 
of  government  are  foreign  to  the  democratic  theory  and  to  the 
usages  of  republics.  It  is  to  be  noticed  also  that  in  all  of  the 
Colonies  except  Western  Australia  the  members  of  the  Lower 
House,  unlike  the  members  of  the  English  House  of  Commons, 
are  paid  for  their  parliamentary  services ;  and  that  they  are 
elected  for  three  years. 

But  though  the  Colonies  had  thus  gained  responsible  govern- 
ment, they  had  not  gained  unity.  Eor  many  years  they  con- 
tinued separate  and  distinct  without  making  any  active  effort 

1  In  Western  Australia  either  a  six  months'  residence  in  one  plaee  or  twelve 
months'  residence  iu  the  Colony,  or  a  property  qaalitication,  is  required. 


CHAP.  VI  AUSTRALIA  353 

to  unite  their  interests  and  destinies,  though  the  idea  of  fed- 
eration was  brought  forward  as  early  as  1852.  As  time  passed, 
this  idea  inevitably  grew  pressing  and  important.  The  exam- 
ple of  Canada  was  a  perpetual  invitation  to  the  Australians  to 
bring  their  island  under  one  central  sway.  In  188(3  the  move- 
ment for  federation  began  to  find  expression,  and  a  Federal 
Council  met  at  Hobart  to  give  it  careful  consideration.  Little 
was  accomplished  by  this  Council,  and  its  views  of  the  meas- 
ures necessary  were  narrow.  But  the  movement  found  an 
earnest  friend  in  Sir  Henry  Parkes,  who  pushed  it  forward  in 
the  most  vigorous  manner.  Again  and  again  he  enunciated 
the  idea  that  federation  could  never  be  brought  about  without 
adequate  representation,  and  that  no  representative  body  could 
be  adequate  unless  its  members  were  chosen  by  the  people 
directly  or  by  the  different  colonial  Parliaments.  Through  his 
initiative  another  conference  was  brought  about  in  1890 ;  and 
in  1891  the  Australian  Federal  Council  was  formed  with  a  view 
to  framiiig  a  Federal  Constitution.  In  1895  the  Australian 
Premiers  held  a  conference  and  adopted  '•'  The  Australian  Fed- 
eration Enabling  Act,"  which  prepared  the  way  for  the  election 
of  a  convention  to  draft  a  Constitution.  To  such  a  Federal 
Convention,  accordingly,  delegates  were  sent  in  1897  by  Tas- 
mania and  all  the  Australian  provinces  excepting  Queensland. 
The  Convention  held  two  sessions  in  1897  and  one  in  1898,  and 
finally  framed  a  Constitution  Bill  to  be  submitted  to  the  differ- 
ent Colonies,  though  it  found  the  task  an  exceedingly  difficult 
one.  The  smaller  Colonies  demanded  equal  representation  in 
the  Upper  House ;  and  the  larger  Colonies  insisted  that  the 
Upper  House  should  have  no  power  to  amend  money  bills. 
The  first  of  these  claims  was  allowed ;  the  second  was  settled 
by  compromise.  There  was  also  disagreement  over  the  means 
of  settling  a  dead-lock  in  case  the  two  Houses  disagreed,  and 
also  over  the  question  of  dividing  the  surplus  customs  revenue 
among  the  Colonies. 

These  differences  having  been  adjusted,  the  Convention 
broke  up  on  March  17,  1898,  and  the  bill  was  then  referred  to 
a  plebiscite  in  the  different  Colonies.  No  vote  was  taken  in 
Queensland,  however,  because  that  Colony  had  held  aloof  from 
the  movement ;  and  in  Western  Australia  the  vote  of  the  people 
was  deferred  until  the  matter  should  have  been  submitted  to 
2a 


354  GREAT  BRITAIN  AND   HER   COLONIES  book  ii 

the  local  parliament.  In  Victoria,  Tasmania,  and  South 
Australia  there  was  an  overwhelming  popular  majority  in  favor 
of  the  bill,  although  only  a  strikingly  small  proportion  of  the 
electors  recorded  their  votes.  In  New  South  Wales  the  result 
was  adverse;  for,  although  the  bill  obtained  a  majority,  it  did 
not  receive  the  80,000  votes  required  by  statute.  Notwith- 
standing this  defeat  there  was  a  strong  sentiment  in  New 
South  Wales  in  favor  of  the  federative  movement;  and  the 
Government  of  the  Colony  began  to  prepare  such  modifications 
of  the  bill  as  would  make  it  acceptable  to  the  electors,  hoping 
that  the  proposed  changes  would  meet  with  approval  in  the 
other  Colonies.  The  customs  arrangements  of  the  Constitution 
Bill  were  especially  objectionable  to  the  people  of  New  South 
Wales,  as  through  their  operation  about  £250,000  would  be 
taken  from  the  revenue  of  the  Colony  and  made  over  to  the 
general  Government;  and  the  provision  that  a  dead-lock 
between  the  two  Houses  should  be  settled  by  a  joint  session  in 
which  a  three  fifths  majority  should  be  necessary  also  roused 
much  opposition,  and  it  was  proposed  that  in  such  cases  a  bare 
majority  should  be  sufficient. 

The  modifications  proposed  by  the  Government  of  New  South 
Wales  were  submitted  to  a  conference  of  the  Premiers  of  Vic- 
toria, New  South  Wales,  Queensland,  South  Australia,  Western 
Australia,  and  Tasmania,  which  met  at  Melbourne  toward  the 
end  of  January,  1899.  As  the  result  of  the  conference  the 
most  serious  objections  of  the  people  of  New  South  Wales 
were  removed,  and  the  Premier  of  that  Colony,  who  had  been 
the  chief  opponent  of  the  Constitution,  now  promised  to  give 
it  his  support.  Its  ultimate  acceptance  by  all  the  Colonies 
became,  therefore,  practically  assured ;  and  there  seemed  to  be 
no  doubt  that  Mr.  Chamberlain,  the  Colonial  Secretary  of  Great 
Britain,  would  be  in  a  position  to  submit  the  proposed  Consti- 
tution to  the  House  of  Commons  in  the  course  of  the  year 
1900.  Consequently  the  Constitution  began  to  attract  the 
close  attention  of  English  lawyers  and  political  leaders,  and 
its  exceedingly  democratic  character  called  forth  much  inter- 
esting comment.^  For  it  was  modelled'  after  the  fundamental 
law  of  the  United  States  rather  than  that  of  Canada.  Indeed, 
the  Australians  abandoned  nearly  all  those  political  usages 

1  Consult  the  (Euglisli)  Law  Quarterly  Review  for  April,  1899. 


CHAP,  vt  AUSTRALIA  355 

and  traditions  of  the  mother-country  which  the  Canadians  had 
held  sacred  and  adopted.  The  Australian  Constitution  does 
indeed  provide  for  responsible  parliamentary  government,  as  it 
gives  the  Governor-General  the  power  to  prorogue  the  Parlia- 
ment and  to  dissolve  the  House  of  Representatives ;  but  it 
does  not  vest  that  officer  with  the  right  of  vetoing  federal 
legislation ;  it  gives  to  the  different  members  of  the  Confeder- 
ation equal  representation  in  the  Senate ;  it  grants  legislative 
powers  to  the  Federal  Parliament,  but  does  not  expressly 
endow  the  individual  states  with  similar  authority ;  and  it 
provides  for  a  system  of  federal  courts  which  are  to  have  a 
jurisdiction  similar  to  that  exercised  by  the  federal  courts  of 
the  United  States.  The  supreme  federal  court  is  to  be  called 
the  High  Court  of  Australia,  and  Parliament  may  confer  on  it 
original  jurisdiction  in  questious  arising  under  the  Constitution 
or  involving  its  interpretation.  Thus  in  several  matters  of 
prime  importance  the  Australian  Constitution  imitates  that  of 
the  United  States  rather  than  that  of  Canada,  as  will  be 
apparent  by  comparing  the  provisions  above  noted  with  those 
of  the  Canadian  Constitution  as  given  on  page  337.  Moreover, 
the  Australians  sometimes  prefer  the  political  names  adopted 
in  America  to  those  sanctioned  by  English  usage;  for  they 
term  their  Lower  House  the  House  of  Representatives  instead 
of  the  House  of  Commons,  and  they  call  the  members  of  the 
Confederation,  not  provinces,  but  states. 

From  this  outline  of  Australian  history  and  political  growth 
it  is  apparent  that  in  this  laiid,  so  far  removed  from  European 
civilization,  the  principle  of  constitutionalism  has  won  new 
and  significant  triumphs.  Here  also  representative  govern- 
ment has  protected  the  rights  of  the  people.  Not  indeed  that 
its  workings  have  been  altogether  smooth.  Australia,  like 
other  progressive  countries,  has  had  difficult  problems  to  en- 
counter. Its  civil  service  has  been  corrupt,  its  political  elec- 
tions have  been  disgraced  by  extensive  bribery,  it  has  not  escaped 
from  organized  and  long-continued  strikes.  Nor  has  legislation 
always  dealt  wisely  and  efficiently  with  these  and  other  evils. 
On  the  contrary,  it  has  often  been  cliaracterized  by  impatience, 
recklessness,  and  indifference  to  the  highest  welfare  of  the  State.^ 

1  In  the  Atlantic  Monthly  for  March,  1808,  there  is  an  able  criticism  of 
Australian  deuiocracy  l>y  ATr.  E.  Jj.  Goilkiii :  and  in  tlip  issue  of  the  same 
magazine  for  May,  18!)'.),  is  to  be  found  a  rejoinder  to  this  article. 


356  GREAT   BRITAIN   AND    HER   COLONIES  book  ii 

Yet  constitutional  government  has  acconlplislied  so  much  good 
that  the  following  statement  by  Sir  Henry  Parkes  ^  about 
its  workings  in  New  South  Wales  may  fairly  be  applied  to 
the  whole  country :  "  Making  all  fair  allowance  for  the  bene- 
ficial working  of  those  moral  and  commercial  agencies  which 
would  have  come  into  increasingly  active  operation  under 
any  form  of  political  institutions,  still  the  results  which  are 
directly  attributable  to  the  legislative  discernment,  wisdom, 
and  vigor  of  the  new  Constitution  are  immense.  They  are 
to  be  seen  in  the  extension  of  railways,  and  the  greatly 
improved  means  of  communication  in  all  directions,  in  the 
scores  upon  scores  of  substantial  bridges  which  span  rivers 
and  creeks,  where  dangerous  crossings  served  the  purposes  of 
travel  in  the  last  generation,  and  the  wider  spread  of  settle- 
ment and  the  better  class  of  rural  homesteads,  in  the  gradual 
sweep  of  cultivation  over  the  wild  land,  in  the  beauty-spots 
of  orchard  and  flower-garden  around  poor  men's  homes ;  above 
all  in  the  beneficent  provision,  reaching  everywhere,  for  the 
instruction  of  the  happy  children,  in  the  popular  demand  for 
municipal  institutions,  in  the  multiplication  of  books  accessible 
to  the  many,  in  the  more  systematic  ordering  of  towns  and  vil- 
lages, in  the  higher  efficiency  introduced  into  the  departments 
of  justice  and  police  —  in  a  word,  in  every  feature  of  society." 


1  « 


Fifty  Years  in  the  Making  of  Australian  History,"  I.  312. 


CHAPTER  VII 

NEW   ZEALAND 

The  group  of  islands  which  goes  by  the  name  of  New  Zea- 
land belongs  to  Australasia.  But  the  term  "Australasia"  is 
purely  geographical,  and  is,  indeed,  misleading.  It  suggests 
that  all  the  islands  included  under  the  name  have  a  connec- 
tion of  some  sort  with  Australia;  whereas  some  of  them  lie 
far  away  from  that  island-continent,  and  differ  from  it  in  every 
essential  feature.  The  two  large  islands  which  practically 
compose  New  Zealand  lie  1200  miles  east  of  Australia,  and 
extend  600  miles  south  of  its  southernmost  point,  if  Tasmania 
is  not  considered  a  part  of  it.  Moreover,  in  climate  and  in 
physical  characteristics  the  two  countries  are  widely  different. 
Australia  is  a  low,  flat  country,  and,  on  the  whole,  a  very  hot 
one,  with  a  fauna  and  flora  peculiar  to  itself.  New  Zealand 
is  mountainous  and  comparatively  temperate ;  and  its  fauna 
and  flora  bear  scarcely  any  resemblance  to  those  of  the  larger 
country. 

But  naturally,  in  its  material  and  political  growth,  it  repeats 
the  story  of  Australia.  An  unknown  land  with  great  natural 
resources  is  occupied  by  a  few  adventurous  Englishmen,  is 
gradually  civilized  and  populated,  and  becomes  a  rich  and 
flourishing  dependency  of  Great  Britain.  Like  Australia, 
New  Zealand  was  first  brought  prominently  to  the  notice  of 
Great  Britain  by  Captain  Cook,  who  explored  it  in  17G9.  But 
its  native  population  of  Maoris  was  savage  and  addicted  to 
cannibalism,  and  for  a  long  time  none  but  desperate  characters 
would  settle  upon  its  inhospitable  shores.  A  few  runaway 
sailors  and  escaped  convicts  found  refuge  there ;  the  better 
class  of  colonists  could  not  find  a  home  amid  cannibals  and 
profligates.  Still,  missionaries  from  Sydney  did  find  their  way 
to  the  islands,  which  were  accordingly  declared  a  dependency 

357 


358  GREAT   BRITAIN   AND    HER   COLONIES  book  ii 

of  New  South  Wales.  Thus  the  influence  of  Great  Britam 
began  to  make  itself  felt  in  New  Zealand,  and  gradually 
became  dominant.  At  the  request  of  some  of  the  native 
chieftains,  who  had  been  reached  by  missionary  effort,  King 
William  IV.  took  the  islands  under  England's  protection,  and 
sent  a  British  resident  to  bring  them  under  British  control. 
This  action  encouraged  Englishmen  to  settle  there.  Colonists 
of  the  better  class  began  to  increase,  and  in  1838  they  estab- 
lished a  provincial  government.  And  now  Edward  Gibbon 
Wakefield,  that  remarkable  man  who  played  so  prominent  a 
part  in  the  early  history  of  Australia,  resolved  to  make  the 
islands  a  possession  of  the  British  Crown.  So  serious  a  step 
should  have  been  taken  by  the  British  Government  rather  than 
by  irresponsible  individuals;  but  as  Parliament  was  slow  to 
act  in  the  matter,  Wakefield,  with  the  cooperation  of  Lord 
Durham,  secretly  formed  the  New  Zealand  Company,  and  sent 
his  brother  to  the  islands  in  1839  to  take  possession.  More 
colonists  came  in  the  following  year  under  the  auspices  of  the 
new  company.  The  city  of  Wellington  was  founded.  The 
British  Government,  awakened  from  its  indifference,  saw  that 
it  was  high  time  to  interfere.  It  made  New  Zealand  a  sepa- 
rate colony,  and  placed  it  under  the  control  of  a  Governor- 
General  and  a  Legislative  Council  of  six.  And  as  the  natives 
ceded  the  North  Island  to  the  Queen  by  a  formal  treaty,  and 
the  Middle  Island  Mvas  claimed  for  the  Crown  through  right 
of  discovery,  the  sovereignty  of  Great  Britain  over  the  islands 
was  at  least  nominally  assured. 

But  it  remained  to  gain  actual  possession  of  the  country, 
and  this  was  not  easily  done.  The  Maoris  were  hostile  and 
defiant.  They  fought  the  English  step  by  step.  Though  they 
sold  their  land  to  the  settlers,  they  would  not  respect  the  rights 
of  the  new  owners;  and  they  involved  the  colonists  in  long 
and  sanguinary  wars.  Not  until  18(39  were  they  entirely  sub- 
dued. But  in  spite  of  these  obstacles  the  process  of  coloniza- 
tion went  steadily  on.  Although  the  British  Government 
would  not  allow  a  private  corporation  to  control  the  islands, 
it  granted  the  New  Zealand  Company  a  charter  under  which 
active  measures  were  taken  to  populate  and  develop  the  new 

1  There  is  a  third  member  of  the  group,  called  Stewart  Island ;  but  it  is 
small,  thinly  settled,  and  unimportant. 


CHAP.  VII  NEW   ZEALAND  359 

colony.  Emigrants  were  sent  to  it  in  large  numbers,  its  inte- 
rior was  explored,  its  resources  were  carefully  examined. 
Gradually  it  was  found  tliat  New  Zealand  was  one  of  the 
richest  and  most  fertile  possessions  of  the  Crown.  Its  forests 
contain  an  almost  inexhaustible  supply  of  valuable  timber, 
its  moist  lands  teem  with  the  flax  plant,  sheep  and  cattle 
thrive  on  its  immense  stretches  of  pasture  land,  large  stores 
of  gum  are  dug  from  the  sites  of  its  ancient  forests,  its  gold 
mines  have  given  an  abundant  yield,  and  its  coal  mines  are 
rich  and  extensive.  Moreover,  the  northerly  part  of  the  North 
Island,  not  as  yet  a  favorite  residence  portion  of  the  colony  on 
account  of  its  warm  climate,  has  resources  of  its  own,  for  silk- 
worms and  semi-tropical  fruits  can  be  produced  there  without 
trouble. 

Blessed  with  such  resources,  New  Zealand  gained  rapidly 
in  population,  trade,  and  commerce,  after  the  stream  of  immi- 
gration had  once  fairly  set  toward  its  shores.  In  1854 
its  inhabitants  nuiubered  abont  oO,000,  exclusive  of  the 
aborigines ;  in  1858  they  had  increased  to  nearly  60,000 ;  by 
1880  the  population,  exclusive  of  the  Maoris,  liad  grown  to 
500,000,  and  as  the  century  closes  it  numbers  nearly  750,000. 
And  quite  proportionate  has  been  tlie  growth  in  trade  and  pros- 
perity. In  the  twenty  years  from  1859  to  1878  the  commerce 
of  New  Zealand  increased  nearly  twenty  fold ;  and  in  the  last 
of  these  years  its  yearly  exports  were  over  ^oO,000,000.  In 
1896  this  figure  had  increased  to  |42,500,000.  Very  large, 
also,  has  been  the  import  trade,  owing  to  the  slow  development 
of  New  Zealand's  manufacturing  industries.  Rich  in  its 
forests,  its  mines,  and  its  agricultural  and  grazing  lands,  the 
country  did  not  for  a  long  time  find  it  expedient  to  attempt 
manufacturing  upon  a  large  scale.  Rather  did  it  })ursue  the 
natural  course  of  sending  its  own  products  to  Great  Britain, 
and  in  turn  drawing  largely  u})on  the  mother-country  for  the 
manifold  articles  of  daily  use.  At  the  same  time,  manufactures 
have  of  late  received  considerable  attention.  The  factories  of 
New  Zealand  now  give  employment  to  40,000  persons,  and 
their  yearly  product  has  a  value  of  more  than  $50,000,000. 
Helped  thus  by  their  climate,  their  soil,  their  mineral  resources, 
and  their  facilities  for  all  manner  of  industrial  and  commer- 
cial enterprises,  the  people  of  the  country  have  attained  to  an 


360  GREAT   BRITAIN   AND   HER   COLONIES  book  ii 

almost  unexampled  prosperity.  Large  fortunes,  it  is  true,  are 
not  common,  as  they  are  in  Australia ;  but  nearly  all  live  in 
comfort,  and  poverty  is  hardly  known.  Kot  that  the  islands 
have  been  free  from  those  seasons  of  business  depression, 
money  stringency,  and  disastrous  speculation  which  seem 
invariably  to  attend  the  advance  of  civilization.  The  year 
1879  marked  the  beginning  of  a  panic,  which  was  of  long 
duration,  and  which  caused  widespread  financial  disturbance, 
for  previous  to  that  year  there  had  been  an  over-rapid  develop- 
ment of  commei'cial  enterprises.  Money  had  been  borrowed 
extensively,  speculation  in  land  had  been  excessive,  prices 
had  become  inflated.  The  crash  came  which  inevitably  fol- 
lows such  unhealthy  business  activity,  and  many  were  finan- 
cially ruined,  while  many  others  saved  their  fortunes  only  by 
anxious  years  of  exertion  and  self-denial.  But  this  season  of 
excitement  and  disaster  was  followed  by  prosperous  years. 
The  people  settled  down  into  thrifty  and  contented  ways, 
avoiding  the  fierce  competition  of  modern  civilization  and  the 
direful  evils  which  it  brings.  For  though  the  New  Zealanders 
have  had  to  grapple  with  the  socialistic  and  other  troublesome 
problems  of  the  present  day,  they  have  faced  these  problems 
with  courage  and  equanimity,  as  a  glance  at  their  political  his- 
tory will  show. 

That  this  history  is  a  most  interesting  and  instructive  one 
need  not  surprise  us.  The  colonists  of  New  Zealand  were 
Englishmen,  with  many  Scotch  and  Irish  and  a  few  Scandina- 
vians and  Germans  intermixed.  Possessing  thus  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  genius  for  affairs,  they  soon  learned  to  demand  the  right 
of  self-government.  This  demand  was  pressingly  urged  by 
Edward  Gibbon  Wakefield,  who  played  a  conspicuous  and  not 
wholly  creditable  part  in  Australian  politics,  and  who  may  be 
said  to  have  been  the  founder  of  the  New  Zealand  Colony.  But 
it  was  only  by  persistent  efforts  that  the  colonists  obtained 
what  they  desired.  In  this  case,  as  in  all  similar  cases  of  colo- 
nial ambition  for  independence,  the  mother-country  was  slow 
to  relax  its  grasp  upon  its  young  and  growing  progeny.  The 
home  Government  sent  out  one  Governor-General  after  another 
from  Great  Britain,  but  not  till  1852  did  it  recognize  the  claims 
of  the  New  Zealanders  to  manage  their  own  affairs.  In  that 
year  the  British  Parliament  granted  New  Zealand  the  right  of 


CHAP.  VII  NEW   ZEALAND  361 

self-government  under  a  Constitution  which  was  largely  the 
work  of  the  Governor-General,  Sir  George  Grey.  This  able 
man,  who  more  than  once  played  an  important  part  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  Colony,  was  sent  to  New  Zealand  in  1846.  Showing 
great  tact  in  dealing  with  the  natives,  and  a  sincere  interest  in 
the  welfare  of  the  colonists,  he  was  more  successful  in  govern- 
ing the  islands  than  his  predecessors  had  been.  The  Constitu- 
tion which  he  helped  to  frame  for  the  Colony  was  ambitiously 
conceived ;  for  it  provided  for  nine  provincial  assemblies  as 
well  as  for  a  central  parliament,  and  it  must  be  admitted  that 
the  country  was  sparsely  settled  for  the  establishment  of  so 
many  parliamentary  bodies.  But  the  Constitution  materially 
helped  the  political  development  of  the  country,  and  for  twenty- 
two  years  it  continued  without  substantial  modification. 

But  Governor  Grey  did  not  remain  with  the  Colony  long 
enough  to  see  the  machinery  of  government  which  he  had 
devised  put  into  successful  operation.  He  left  New  Zealand 
in  1853,  and  it  was  not  till  1856  that  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives was  thoroughly  and  efficiently  organized  and  enabled  to 
perform  its  legislative  functions.  That  this  early  departure  of 
Governor  Grey  was  a  loss  to  the  country  soon  became  apparent, 
for  his  immediate  successors  proved  incompetent.  Those  disas- 
trous wars  which  disturbed  the  Colony  for  so  many  years  (p. 
358)  were  largely  due  to  the  mismanagement  of  Colonel  Browne. 
Appointed  Governor  in  1855,  he  soon  offended  the  natives  by 
his  arbitrary  manner  of  dealing  with  them ;  and  though  Grey 
was  again  made  Governor  in  1861,  even  he  could  not  quell  the 
spirit  of  insurrection  which  had  been  roused.  But,  in  spite  of 
reverses,  the  Colony  grew  in  wealth  and  population,  and  with 
increased  prosperity  came  new  social  and  political  conditions. 
For  gradually  the  colonists  acquired  confidence  in  themselves 
and  in  the  resources  of  their  country ;  and  this  confidence  gen- 
erated a  desire  to  control  the  policy  of  the  Government  and  to 
adapt  legislation  to  the  growing  needs  of  the  Colony.  The 
early  Governors  took  the  administration  of  affairs  very  largely 
into  their  own  hands ;  but  after  Grey's  second  term  of  office 
came  to  an  end,  in  1868,  the  Governors  did  not  attempt  to  shape 
the  colonial  policy.  Left  thus  to  themselves,  the  colonists 
proved  active  and  capable.  The  decade  preceding  1880  was 
marked  by  a   number  of    important   steps.      The   provincial 


.362  GREAT   BRITAIN  AND   HER   COLONIES  book  ii 

councils  were  abolished  in  1875,  and  local  affairs  were  largely 
intrusted  to  local  boards  which  could  not  claim  parliamentary 
dignity.  But  more  important  than  this  change  was  the  assump- 
tion of  new  duties  and  responsibilities  by  the  Government.  The 
time  had  come  when  it  was  necessary  to  provide  the  Colony 
with  better  facilities  for  communication  and  commercial  inter- 
course. Accordingly,  the  Government  borrowed  large  sums  of 
money,  built  roads,  constructed  railroads,  purchased  land,  and 
brought  new  immigrants  into  the  country. 

That  this  activity  on  the  part  of  the  Government  stimulated 
private  enterprise,  and  was  finally  attended  with  some  unfor- 
tunate consequences,  has  been  already  shown  (p.  360).  The 
decade  that  followed  1880  was  largely  spent  in  retrieving  the 
disasters  of  this  period  of  expansion  and  development.  But 
the  colonists  were  by  no  means  inclined  to  curtail  the  powers 
and  the  activity  of  the  Government,  because  it  had,  indirectly, 
been  the  cause  of  a  period  of  depression.  On  the  contrary, 
they  continually  increased  the  area  of  State  control.  For  into 
these  far-off  islands  swept  the  wave  of  socialistic  feeling  which 
has  in  recent  years  been  flowing  around  the  world.  The  New 
Zealanders  have  not  indeed  become  professed  State  Socialists, 
nor  have  they  passed  revolutionary  legislation.  But  prosper- 
ous, successful,  building  up  a  new  civilization,  and  easily 
emancipating  themselves  from  the  traditions  of  the  past, 
they  have  considered  their  country  well  fitted  to  work  out 
political  and  social  reforms.  Accordingly,  they  have  little  by 
little  enlarged  the  powers  and  functions  of  government.  The 
vexed  question  of  land  ownership  has  received  a  partial  solu- 
tion, as  the  State,  instead  of  selling  the  Crown  lands,  more 
commonly  retains  its  ownership  of  them  and  leases  them  to 
villages  or  to  individuals.  Railroads,  telegraphs,  and  telephone 
systems  are  also  owned  by  the  State,  and  hospitals  and  lunatic 
asylums  are  under  its  control.  It  conducts  a  large  life  insur- 
ance business,  takes  charge  of  conveyancing  and  the  investiga- 
tion of  land  titles,  and  maintains  a  public  trustee  who  looks 
after,  not  only  intestate  estates,  but  all  those  which  are  settled 
with  difficulty.  In  raising  its  revenues  the  State  recognizes 
the  principle  of  inequality ;  for  both  lands  and  incomes  are 
assessed  in  proportion  to  their  value  or  amount.  Small  farms 
and  incomes  below  £333  pay  nothing  to  the  State.      Farms 


CHAP,  vn  NEW   ZEALAND  363 

■ « ■" — ' ■ 

worth  £5000  or  more  than  that  sum  are  assessed  according  to 
a  graduated  scale.  Incomes  between  £300  and  £1300  pay  six- 
pence in  the  pound;  incomes  larger  than  £1300  pay  a  shilling. 

To  the  labor  question  much  attention  has  been  given,  and 
some  radical  measures  have  been  taken  to  prevent  wasting  con- 
flicts between  workingmen  and  capitalists.  In  every  mining  or 
manufacturing  district  is  established  a  Board  of  Conciliation, 
which  is  composed  of  representatives  of  the  laborers  and  their 
employers,  and  to  which  all  disputes  between  these  two  classes 
are  first  referred.  But  each  side  is  so  vitally  interested  in  the 
question  at  issue,  that  these  local  boards  are  usually  unable  to 
make  their  decision  respected,  and  an  appeal  to  a  higher  tri- 
bunal becomes  necessary.  In  such  cases  the  Central  Court  of 
Arbitration  takes  the  disputed  matter  in  hand  and  passes  judg- 
ment upon  it.  As  the  verdict  given  by  this  court  can  be 
legally  enforced,  it  is  always  accepted  without  question.  And 
certainly  the  composition  of  the  court  is  such  that  its  decisions 
ought  to  carry  weight.  Only  three  members  belong  to  it,  one 
of  whom  represents  labor,  one  capital,  while  the  third  is  a 
judge  of  the  Supreme  Court.  It  is  difficult  to  see  how  this 
important  tribunal  could  be  made  up  in  a  fairer  way. 

Although  the  labor  laws  of  New  Zealand  are  numerous,  few 
of  them  besides  those  that  concern  arbitration  can  be  said  to 
differ  essentially  from  those  of  other  countries.  They  are 
designed  to  make  employers  liable  for  accidents  to  their 
employees,  to  protect  seamen  and  miners,  to  prevent  the 
sweating  system,  to  regulate  the  hours  of  factory  operatives, 
to  secure  weekly  half-holidays  for  certain  classes  of  working- 
people,  and  in  many  ways  to  secure  justice  to  the  laboring 
man  and  to  lighten  his  burden.  But  the  Servants,  Registry 
Offices  Act  may  be  specially  mentioned,  as  illustrating  a  ten- 
dency toward  State  socialism,  for  it  gives  the  Government 
entire  control  over  employment  offices.  None  but  persons  of 
good  character  are  allowed  to  conduct  such  offices,  and  only 
the  fee  that  the  Government  prescribes  can  be  charged.  It 
may  also  be  noted  that  trade-unions  have  the  right  to  become 
corporate  bodies,  and  as  such  are  able  to  sue  and  to  be  sued. 

Such  being  the  legislative  tendencies  of  New  Zealand,  it  is 
not  surprising  that  this  enterprising  and  democratic  country 
should  adopt  a  radical  plan  of  giving  relief  to  the  aged.     The 


864  GREAT   BRITAIN   AND   HER   COLONIES  book  ii 

question  of  Old  Age  Pensions  has  been  widely  discussed,  and 
has  been  seriously  considered  by  the  legislatures  of  various 
countries.  Even  in  England  a  committee  was  appointed  in 
1896  to  examine  into  the  feasibility  of  the  manifold  schemes 
of  this  character.  But  while  other  countries  have  deliberated, 
New  Zealand  has  taken  action.  On  October  20,  1898,  the  New 
Zealand  House  of  Representatives  voted  to  grant  a  pension  of 
£18  per  annum  to  persons  sixty-five  years  of  age  and  npward, 
of  good  moral  character,  who  have  resided  in  the  colony  twsnty- 
five  years,  and  whose  income  does  not  exceed  £34.  It  will  be 
seen  that  the  purport  of  the  measure  is  to  secure  to  all  persons 
in  their  declining  years  a  sure  income  of  as  much  as  a  pound 
a  week. 

The  Constitution  of  New  Zealand  has  received  some  modifi- 
cations, but  it  is  fundamentally  the  same  that  was  framed  and 
adopted  in  1852.  The  connection  with  the  mother-country  is 
preserved  through  the  Governor-General,  who  is  appointed  by 
the  Crown.  The  legislative  branch  of  the  Government  consists 
of  a  Legislative  Council  of  forty-six  members,  now  appointed 
by  the  Crown  for  seven  years,  but  originally  for  life,  and  of  a 
House  of  Representatives  of  seventy-four  members,  who  are 
elected  by  the  people  for  five  years.  Responsible  ministers, 
representing  the  dominant  party,  constitute  with  the  Governor- 
General  the  Executive,  and  remain  in  power  as  long  as  they 
retain  their  majority,  or  until  Parliament  is  dissolved.  For 
some  time  a  property  qualification  was  required  of  voters ;  but 
in  1872  this  limitation  of  the  suffrage  was  practically  abolished. 
Either  a  twelve  months  residence  in  the  islands,  or  the  owner- 
ship of  real  property  worth  £25,  now  gives  the  right  to  vote. 
It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  the  Maoris  are  allowed  to  choose 
four  of  their  number  to  sit  in  the  Honse  of  Representatives, 
and  also  that  the  franchise  was  extended  to  women  in  1893. 

That  New  Zealand  has  made  a  wide  departure  from  the 
aristocratic  usages  and  customs  of  the  mother-country  is 
apparent,  and  her  radical  and  socialistic  legislation  has 
attracted  much  attention.  Many  are  confident  that  evil  results 
will  ultimately  come  from  this  legislation  ;  but  the  New  Zea- 
landers  themselves,  who  ought  best  to  understand  their  own 
affairs,  believe  firmly  in  their  institutions.^ 

1  The  Economic  Review,  July  15,  1899. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

SOUTH    AFRICA 

Toward  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century  it  was  discovered 
that  vessels  coukl  go  from  the  ports  of  Europe  to  India  by- 
rounding  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  this  route  was  at  once 
made  use  of,  to  the  great  advantage  of  commerce.  But  for 
some  time  no  European  settlement  was  made  near  this  famous 
point  of  land,  for  the  advantages  of  South  Africa  in  soil  and 
climate  were  unknown.  In  1052,  however,  the  Netherlands 
East  India  Company  established  a  Colony  on  the  shores  of  Table 
Bay.  Other  colonists  followed.  Settlers  gained  possession  of 
a  considerable  tract  of  country  by  purchasing  land  from  the 
Hottentot  chiefs,  and  they  pushed  their  way  northward  and 
eastward,  though  not  without  coming  into  bloody  conflicts  with 
the  natives.  Thus  the  Dutch  became  undisputed  possessors  of 
South  Africa.  For  nearly  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  after  their 
first  settlement  was  founded  at  Table  Bay  they  were  molested 
by  no  European  nation.  But  in  1795  the  English  wrested  the 
Colony  from  them,  Holland  having  in  that  year  been  made  a 
French  province,  and  fears  being  entertained  in  England  that 
the  Dutch  Colony  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  would  share  a  like 
fate.  For  French  control  of  this  important  point  would  have 
threatened  England's  communication  with  India.  liestored  to 
Holland  by  the  Treaty  of  Amiens  in  1802,  the  Colony  was  again 
seized  by  the  English  in  1806,  and  was  formally  ceded  to  them 
by  the  King  of  the  Netherlands  for  a  sum  of  money  in  1815. 

But,  though  now  an  English  possession,  the  Cape  was  peopled 
almost  entirely  by  Dutch.  Only  gradually  did  Euglish  settlers 
become  numerous  and  English  customs  and  the  English  lan- 
guage supersede  those  of  the  older  colonists.  Not  till  1S2G  did 
the  process  of  Anglicizing  the  Colony  actively  begin.  In  that 
year  an  Executive  Council  was  appointed  to  advise  with  the 

305 


366  GREAT   BKITAIN   AND   HER   COLONIES  book  ii 


Governor ;  and  a  supreme  court,  wliich  set  aside  the  old  Dutch 
system  of  rendering  justice,  was  established.  But  these  inno- 
vations gave  great  offence  to  the  Dutch  inhabitants,  who  dif- 
fered in  many  ways  from  the  English  settlers.  The  Dutch 
Boers  were  industrious,  pious,  and  upright,  but  narrow  and 
unprogressive.  They  lacked  the  Anglo-Saxon  instinct  for 
political  development.  Moreover,  interpreting  the  Bible  in  a 
strictly  literal  way,  they  found  in  the  Old  Testament  ample 
warrant  for  holding  the  native  Africans  in  slavery.  Accord- 
ingly, their  discontent,  which  had  for  a  long  time  been  growing, 
became  bitter  and  outspoken  in  1834,  when  the  British  Parlia- 
ment abolished  slavery  in  the  Colonies.  They  were  a  sturdy 
people,  jealously  clinging  to  their  independence ;  and  many  of 
them  now  determined  to  take  themselves  out  of  the  reach  of 
English  rule.  Selling  their  possessions,  many  of  them  "  trekked  " 
eastward  with  their  cattle,  flocks,  and  wagons  into  the  territory 
which  is  now  comprised  by  the  Colony  of  Natal.  Here  they 
attempted  in  1839  to  establish  the  "  Republic  of  Natalia,"  tak- 
ing the  name  from  that  which  Vasco  de  Gania  had  applied  to 
this  portion  of  South  Africa  in  1497.  Eor,  having  sighted  it 
on  Christmas  Day,  he  called  it  Terra  Natalis.  But  the  English 
Government  was  not  at  this  time  willing  that  any  independent 
state  should  be  established  near  its  own  South  African  Colony. 
Consequently,  armed  conflicts  followed  between  the  Boers  and 
the  troops  that  were  sent  to  subdue  them.  Overpowered  by 
numbers,  the  Dutch  submitted,  and  Natal  was  proclaimed  a 
British  Colony  in  1843. 

But  the  Boers  were  none  the  less  determined  to  secure  their 
independence.  Eor  a  number  of  years  the  Dutch  had  been 
making  their  Avay  northward  across  the  Orange  River,  and 
those  who  had  already  settled  there  were  now  joined  by  others 
who  wished  to  be  free  from  British  rule.  Here,  with  a  wide 
river  to  separate  them  from  the  English  Colony,  they  hoped  to 
be  entirely  their  own  masters.  But  their  hopes  Avere  for  a  tijue 
doomed  to  be  disappointed.  The  Governor  of  the  Cape  Colony 
issued  a  proclamation  annexing  the  territory  beyond  the  Orange 
River,  and  once  more  the  Dutch  took  arms  to  establish  their 
independence.  But  they  were  as  unsuccessful  here  as  they  had 
been  in  Natalia.  Worsted  on  the  field,  they  were  obliged  to 
recognize  the  sovereignty  of  Great  Britain ;  and  it  was  only 


CHAP.  VIII  SOUTH   AFRICA  367 

when  the  English  Government  voluntarily  abandoned  all  claim 
to  the  territory  in  1854  that  the  Boer  dream  of  independence 
was  realized.  Becoming  now  the  sole  owners  of  the  soil,  they 
founded  the  Orange  Free  State. 

But  the  Boer  movement  extended  even  farther  north.  At 
the  time  when  the  Dutch  malcontents  were  making  their  way 
into  Natal,  some  of  the  more  independent  spirits  crossed  the 
Vaal  River  in  their  endeavor  to  get  entirely  beyond  the  limits 
of  British  authority.  And  though,  like  the  settlers  of  the 
Orange  Free  State,  they  were  at  first  held  to  their  allegiance  to 
the  Crown,  they  were  finally  allowed  to  manage  their  own 
affairs  and  to  have  a  separate  national  existence.  By  an  agree- 
ment made  with  them  in  1852  the  British  Government  granted 
them  complete  independence.  And,  as  their  scattered  commu- 
nities learned  to  feel  the  need  of  a  central  government,  they 
united  and  formed  the  Transvaal,  or  South  African  Republic. 

Thus,  in  assuming  full  control  of  her  own  Colony  at  the  Cape, 
England  caused  an  extensive  Boer  emigration  and  occasioned 
the  founding  of  two  independent  Dutch  states.  But  if  many 
Boers  left  the  Cape  Colony,  many  also  remained  and  became 
thoroughly  loyal  citizens.  Dutch  blood  is  still  dominant  in  the 
Colony.  In  each  of  its  parliamentary  Houses  there  is  a  large 
majority  of  Dutch-speaking  men.  But  these  men  of  Dutch 
descent  have  become  firm  believers  in  English  rule,  and  are 
ready  to  promote  all  reasonable  schemes  to  bring  about  a  fed- 
eration of  the  Dutch  and  English  South  African  Colonies. 

But  the  Dutch  were  not  the  only  ones  to  resist  the  authority 
of  the  Colony.  Some  of  the  aboriginal  tribes  in  South  Africa 
are  brave,  fierce  peoples,  suspicious  and  jealous  of  the  white 
man  and  not  afraid  to  face  his  destructive  weapons  with  their 
own  primitive  implements  of  warfare.  First  and  last  the  Kaffirs, 
Hottentots,  and  Zulus  have  given  the  Dutch  and  English  a  good 
deal  of  trouble  and  caused  the  loss  of  many  lives. 

But,  in  spite  of  the  dissatisfaction  of  the  Dutch  and  the 
hostility  of  the  native  tribes,  the  Colony  grew,  though  it  was 
by  no  means  always  prosperous.  Its  original  area  had,  under 
])utch  control,  been  comparatively  small.  By  successive  annex- 
ations its  territory  Avas  widened,  and  its  population  was  increased 
by  immigration  and  by  natural  growth.  And  with  the  expan- 
sion of  the  Colony  came  the  inevitable  demand  for  self-govern- 


368  GREAT   BRITAIN   AND   HER   COLONIES  book  ii 

ment,  even  as  it  came  in  Canada,  Australia,  and  New  Zealand. 
As  early  as  1827  the  English  Secretary  of  State  received  a 
petition  from  the  colonists,  asking  for  an  elected  House  of 
Representatives.  As  the  petition  was  not  granted,  it  was  fol- 
lowed by  others ;  and  after  a  time  they  produced  the  desired 
effect.  In  1849  the  Colony  acquired  respect  by  the  vigor  with 
which  it  protested  against  a  project  to  make  it  a  penal  settle- 
ment. The  project  was  abandoned,  and  the  colonists,  elated  by 
their  success  in  defeating  it,  clamored  for  self-government 
more  earnestly  than  ever.  In  1853  they  were  granted  a  Con- 
stitution which  empowered  them  to  choose  a  Parliament  con- 
sisting of  two  Houses.  But  though  representation  was  thus 
gained,  it  did  not  as  yet  apply  to  the  executive  branch  of  the 
Government ;  for  the  members  of  the  Executive  were  appointed 
by  the  Crown  and  were  responsible  to  the  Crown  for  their 
actions.  Hence  the  Executive  did  not,  as  it  does  in  England, 
fairly  represent  the  popular  majority.  Sometimes  it  was  in 
conflict  with  the  members  of  Parliament;  and  the  colonists 
grew  more  and  more  dissatisfied  with  a  system  which  really 
denied  them  what  it  pretended  to  give,  the  right  of  managing 
their  own  affairs.  But  in  1872  a  more  liberal  Constitution  was 
proclaimed,  after  being  adopted  by  the  colonial  Parliament  and 
receiving  the  royal  sanction.  By  its  provisions  the  Governor- 
General  and  the  Executive  Council  are  still  appointed  by  the 
Crown ;  but  the  administration  of  affairs  is  largely  in  the  hands 
of  the  Prime  Minister,  who  holds  office,  as  in  England,  as  long 
as  he  can  command  a  majority  in  Parliament.  As  in  other 
English  colonies  that  have  responsible  government.  Parliament 
consists  of  an  Upper  and  a  Lower  House.  The  members  of 
the  Upper  House,  or  Legislative  Council,  are  twenty-two  in 
number  and  are  elected  for  seven  years ;  those  of  the  Lower 
House,  or  House  of  Assembly,  are  seventy-four  in  number  and 
are  elected  for  five  years.  The  suffrage  is  limited  by  a  property 
qualification. 

But  the  happy  termination  of  political  troubles  did  not  bring 
unbroken  prosperity  to  the  colony.  South  Africa,  with  all  its 
natural  wealth  and  resources,  presents  many  obstacles  to  suc- 
cessful enterprise.  Travellers  have  remarked  upon  its  strange 
and  bewildering  contrasts.  The  climate  is  healthful  on  the 
high  plateaus,  but  malarial  near  the  coasts ;  and  the  changes 


CHAP.  VIII  SOUTH   AFRICA  369 

in  temperature  are  sudden  and  very  great.  The  rivers  are  at 
one  time  raging  torrents  and  again  "  feeble  trickles  of  mud."  ^ 
Dust-storms  come  even  where  the  air  is  usually  pure  and  exhila- 
rating. Tracts  of  luxuriant  vegetation  are  interpersed  with  arid 
plains.  Heavy  rains  are  succeeded  by  periods  of  drought ;  and 
the  cattle  that  thrive  so  commonly  are  in  some  places  stricken 
down  by  mysterious  disease  or  by  the  maddening  tsetse  fly. 

Hence  the  growth  of  the  Cape  Colony  was  interrupted  by 
seasons  of  reaction  and  depression ;  and  not  long  after  the  new 
Constitution  was  adopted  there  came  a  period  of  stagnation. 
Droughts  and  other  adverse  conditions  made  trade  languish  and 
fall  away.  But  the  discovery  of  the  diamond  fields  near  the 
Vaal  River  in  1867  brought  a  revival  of  prosperity.  It  was 
soon  found  that  some  of  the  mines  were  exceedingly  productive, 
and  thus  a  new  industry,  bringing  enormous  returns  to  the 
Colony,  was  securely  established.  True,  the  most  valuable 
mines  are  in  the  Orange  Free  State ;  but  some  are  in  the 
borders  of  Cape  Colony,  and  those  outside  of  it  have  been 
developed  largely  by  the  capital  of  its  own  inhabitants. 

But  the  mineral  wealth  of  South  Africa  is  by  no  means 
limited  to  its  diamonds.  Extensive  deposits  of  gold,  silver, 
iron,  lead,  and  coal  are  found  in  the  various  Dutch  and  English 
possessions,  the  South  African  Republic  (Transvaal)  being 
especially  rich  in  minerals ;  and  copper  has  been  mined  from 
Namaqualand,  in  the  adjoining  German  territory,  by  two 
English  companies  for  half  a  century.  But  most  of  these 
mineral  deposits  have  been  found  since  the  discovery  of  dia- 
monds in  1867,  and  none  of  them  have  yet  yielded  very  large 
profits  excepting  that  of  gold.  This  metal  exists  in  various 
parts  of  Cape  Colony;  but  the  only  rich  deposits  thus  far 
discovered  are  in  the  South  African  Republic.  At  Witwaters- 
rand,  about  thirty-five  miles  south  of  Pretoria,  there  are  gold 
fields  of , immense  value.  They  were  first  worked  in  1886,  but 
they  soon  proved  to  be  among  the  richest  in  the  world.  In 
their  vicinity  has  sprung  up  the  flourishing  city  of  Johannes- 
burg, which  now  has  a  po})ulation  of  70,000.  The  sluires  of 
the  Witwatersrand  gold-mining  companies  increased  rapidly  in 
value,  and  the  owners  of  them,  both  in  England  and  South 
Africa,  became  very  wealthy. 

1  Bryce's  "  Impressious  of  South  Africa,"  p.  8. 
2b 


370  GREAT  BRITAIN   AND    OER   COLONIES  book  n 

Thus  the  Cape  Colony  passed  from  the  season  of  depression 
that  visited  it  in  the  latter  sixties  to  an  era  of  great  prosperity. 
The  resources  of  the  country  were  developed.  Its  sheep  pas- 
tures are  rich  and  extensive,  and  the  amount  of  wool  exported 
yearly  has  grown  to  be  very  large.  The  value  of  this  export 
in  1897  was  £1,496,779.  A  large  quantity  of  this  staple  is 
also  consumed  in  home  manufactures,  which  are  slowly  increas- 
ing.^ Thus  the  country  is  growing  wealthy.  Large  fortunes 
have  been  made  from  diamonds,  gold,  and  wool ;  and  with 
large  fortunes  have  come  large  ambitions.  Under  Anglo-Saxon 
rule  and  influence  the  Colony  has  taken  an  aggressive  attitude 
which  its  Dutch  inhabitants  never  would  have  assumed.  For  a 
number  of  years  an  English  resident  of  Cape  Colony  has  filled 
the  minds  of  its  people  with  vast  schemes  of  expansion  and 
federation.  This  man  is  the  Hon.  Cecil  Rhodes,  who  left 
England  to  recruit  his  health  in  South  Africa  just  before  1870. 

He  was  at  that  time  about  thirty  years  of  age.  In  the  mild 
climate  of  his  new  home  he  grew  strong  and  rugged;  and 
along  with  bodily  health  he  developed  commanding  ability  and 
a  forceful  personality.  By  effecting  a  consolidation  of  various 
separate  mining  companies  he  acquired  an  enormous  fortune ; 
but  he  has  apparently  valued  wealth  as  a  source  of  power  rather 
than  as  a  means  of  luxurious  living.  Having  become  the  most 
important  figure  in  South  Africa,  he  determined  to  use  all  his 
resources  and  ability  to  further  British  influence  in  that  region. 
Thirty  years  ago  Great  Britain's  possessions  in  South  Africa 
were  limited  to  Natal  and  the  Cape  Colony,  and  the  area  of  the 
latter  province  was  smaller  than  it  is  at  the  present  time. 
ISTor  was  the  English  Government  then  anxious  to  increase  the 
extent  of  its  South  African  territory.  But  in  1871  Basutoland, 
with  an  area  of  10,000  square  miles,  was  annexed  to  Cape 
Colony  because  of  the  unhappy  condition  of  its  native  inhabit- 
ants, who  had  suffered  severely  in  war  and  who  appealed  to 
the  British  for  protection.  In  1874  the  Conservatives  came 
into  power  in  England,  and  how  they  attempted  to  carry  out 
an  ambitious  imperial  policy  under  Lord  Beacousfield's  leader- 

1  Mr.  Bryce  thinks,  and  with  apparent  reason,  that  any  considerable  devel- 
opment of  manufacturing  industries  in  South  Africa  is  improbable.  The 
inferior  quality  of  the  coal,  the  lack  of  water-power  in  the  rivers,  and  the 
scarcity  of  skilled  labor  put  great  difficulties  in  the  way  of  manufacturing 
enterprise.    "  Impressions  of  South  Africa,"  pp.  459  et  seq. 


CHAP.  VIII  SOUTH  AFRICA  371 

ship  has  already  been  related  (p.  305).  That  policy  embroiled 
the  Government  of  Cape  Colony  both  with  the  Dutch  and  with 
the  Zulus,  and  led  to  the  temporary  annexation  of  the  South 
African  Republic.  The  Republic  was  finally  granted  its  inde- 
pendence under  England's  suzerainty  when  the  Liberals  came 
again  into  power  in  England;  but  the  trouble  with  the  Zulus 
was  not  easily  settled.  Finally,  however,  a  portion  of  their 
country  was  incorporated  into  the  South  African  Republic; 
and  the  remainder,  comprising  about  9000  square  miles, 
was,  in  1887,  declared  British  territory,  and  was  placed 
under  the  authority  of  Natal  and  a  commissioner  and  magis- 
trates. In  the  same  year,  Annatongaland,  lying  north  of  Zulu- 
land  and  having  an  area  of  5300  square  miles,  was  brought 
under  the  sovereignty  of  Great  Britain  by  a  treaty  with 
Zambilli,  its  queen  regent.  And  before  this  a  still  more 
decided  step  in  territorial  expansion  had  been  taken ;  for  in 
1885  Bechuanaland,  as  far  as  the  Molopo  River,  was  proclaimed 
to  be  a  part  of  the  Queen's  dominions,  in  order  that  the  people 
of  Cape  Colony  might  control  the  trade  route  to  the  interior. 
Thus  a  tract  of  10,000  square  miles  was  gained  for  British 
South  Africa;  and  not  long  afterward  an  additional  tract  to 
the  north,  containing  380,000  square  miles,  was  brought  under 
British  sovereignty  under  the  name  of  the  Bechuanaland  I'ro- 
tectorate. 

These  additions  to  the  British  domains  in  South  Africa  were 
altogether  pleasing  to  Mr.  Rhodes,  but  they  by  no  means 
satisfied  him.  To  the  north  of  the  Bechuanaland  Protectorate 
he  saw  an  immense  region,  stretching  to  the  southern  boundary 
of  the  Congo  Free  State,  which  he  was  extremely  anxious  that 
England  should  acquire.  For  if  England  did  not  seize  it,  some 
other  nation  surely  would.  The  explorations  of  Stanley  and 
others  had  revealed  the  resources  of  Africa  and  awakened  the 
cupidity  of  the  powers  of  Europe.  The  stronger  states  were 
becoming  filled  with  colonial  ambition.  Germany,  France, 
Italy,  and  Portugal  were  laying  hold  of  African  territory  with 
eager  hands.  Unless  Great  Britain  claimed  her  share  with 
prompt  decision,  there  would  soon  be  nothing  left  to  acquire. 
But  the  British  Government  was  slow  to  recognize  its  opportu- 
nity, and  had  it  not  been  for  the  energy  of  ^Er.  Rhodes,  the 
immense  basin  of  the  upper  Zambesi  River  would  have  passed 


372  GREAT   BRITAIN   AND   HER   COLONIES  book  ii 

into  the  hands  of  Germany  and  Portugal ;  for  these  powers 
possess  the  coast  region  on  either  hand.  But  Mr.  Khodes, 
seeing  that  England's  imperial  ambition  was  not  to  be  aroused, 
determined  to  get  possession  of  the  desired  territory  for  pur- 
poses of  trade.  Accordingly,  he  joined  with  others  in  founding 
the  British  South  Africa  Company  and  gained  for  it  a  royal 
charter,  by  which  it  was  empowered  to  take  possession  of  and 
administer  the  country  lying  north  and  south  of  the  Zambesi 
and  west  of  Portuguese  East  Africa.  As  the  company  under- 
took to  maintain  order  at  its  own  expense  in  this  vast  tract, 
comprising  750,000  square  miles,  the  English  Government  was 
thus  able  to  control  the  territory  and  to  consider  it  a  part  of 
the  South  African  domains.  Ultimately  England  will  undoubt- 
edly relieve  the  company  of  its  responsibility  and  take  the 
management  of  the  territory  into  its  own  hands.  Thus  the 
British  Colonies  in  South  Africa  have  acquired  ample  room  for 
growth  and  expansion.  They  now  comprise  nearly  1,500,000 
square  miles,  an  area  which  is  nearly  half  as  great  as  that  of 
Canada  or  Australia,  and  more  than  ten  times  as  great  as  that 
of  Great  Britain  itself.  But  much  of  this  territory  will  in  all 
probability  never  be  thickly  settled.  Of  the  land  recently 
acquired  a  good  deal  is  not  intrinsically  valuable.  Some  dis- 
tricts are  marshy  and  malarious,  others  have  a  thin  and  sandy 
soil,  and  others  are  arid  and  unproductive.  Yet  there  remain 
vast  tracts  that  will  be  available  for  grazing  and  agriculture, 
and  some  of  the  more  unpromising  regions  undoubtedly  contain 
deposits  of  gold.^  How  great  these  deposits  are  is  quite  uncer- 
tain. Explorations  to  determine  their  value  are  now  in  prog- 
ress, but  it  seems  certain  that  for  many  years  to  come  they 
will  attract  capital  and  labor  and  will  yield  at  least  moderate 
returns.  On  the  whole,  the  British  possessions  in  South 
Africa  are  a  valuable  addition  to  the  Empire.  Like  Canada 
and  Australia,  they  add  greatly  to  the  power  and  wealth  of 
Great  Britain,  and  give  to  her  surplus  population  a  splendid 
field  for  activity  and  enterprise. 

But  in  the  nature  of  things  these  newly  acquired  tracts  have 
not  as  yet  received  any  political  development.  Their  white 
population  is  so   scanty  that  self-government  will  for    some 

1  To  understand  the  value  of  these  new  acquisitions  of  Great  Britain  in 
South  Africa,  consult  Bryce's  "  Impressions  of  South  Africa,"  Ch.  XVII. 


CHAP,  viii  SOUTH  AFRICA  37.3 


time  be  out  of  the  question.  Bechuanaland  is  ruled  by  an 
administrator  who  acts  under  the  Governor  of  Cape  Colony. 
The  region  to  the  north  is  controlled  by  the  British  South 
Africa  Company,  as  already  stated.  Besides  Cape  Colony, 
Natal  is  the  only  South  African  British  province  that  has 
secured  responsible  government,  and  this  distinction  it  attained 
as  recently  as  1893.  Its  executive  is  a  Governor,  appointed  by 
the  Crown,  and  a  responsible  Ministry  of  five  members.  The 
parliamentary  branch  of  the  government  is  composed  of  a 
Legislative  Council  of  eleven  members,  who  are  appointed  for 
ten  years  by  the  Governor  assisted  by  the  Ministry;  and  a 
Legislative  Assembly  of  thirty-seven  members,  who  are  elected 
for  four  years.  As  in  Cape  Colony,  the  franchise  is  restricted 
by  a  property  and  an  educational  test.  For  in  both  of  these 
colonies  the  white  population  is  determined  to  keep  the  man- 
agement of  affairs  entirely  in  its  own  hands,  and  to  withhold 
the  suffrage  from  the  numerous  but  ignorant  native  class. 
Cape  Colony,  with  an  area  of  221,311  square  miles,  has  about 
2,000,000  inhabitants,  of  whom  only  400,000  are  white.  Natal, 
with  an  area  of  20,401  square  miles,  has  about  100,000  whites 
against  500,000  natives  and  Indians.  It  is  therefore  necessary 
for  the  whites  to  guard  the  franchise  with  great  care.  Univer- 
sal suffrage  would  make  responsible  government  little  better 
than  a  farce. 

Though  much  smaller  than  Cape  Colony,  Natal  possesses 
advantages  of  its  own.  It  contains  valuable  deposits  of  coal 
and  iron,  and  it  has  on  the  whole  a  better  climate  and  a  richer 
soil.  Therefore,  though  its  growth  is  slow,  its  future  seems 
assured. 

This  discussion  of  South  Africa  would  hardly  be  complete 
without  some  further  consideration  of  the  South  African 
Republic,  or  the  Transvaal,  and  the  Orange  Free  State,  espe- 
cially after  the  important  things  that  happened  there  in  1809. 
For  in  that  year  the  animosity  that  had  long  existed  between 
the  Boers  of  the  Transvaal  and  the  English  residents  of  South 
Africa  caused  the  outbreak  of  a  most  unfortunate  war.  Ever 
since  the  Boers  trekked  northward  in  183(),  they  have  been  try- 
ing to  evade  Great  Britain's  reach  and  to  get  entirely  out  of 
the  current  of  English  life  and  thought.  l)ut  they  could  not 
place  themselves  where  the  Anglo-Saxon  lust  for  land  and  gold 


374  GREAT   BRITAIN   AND   HER   COLONIES  book  ii 

did  not  pursue  them.  In  1S77  Great  Britain  tried  to  annex 
their  territory  (p.  306).  In  the  last  decade  of  the  century  both 
their  country  and  their  gold  aroused  the  covetous  instincts  of 
the  Anglo-Saxon. 

But  the  Boers,  though  deserving  sympathy,  have  yet  brought 
their  troubles  upon  themselves.  If  they  had  simply  sought 
isolation,  independence,  and  the  meagre  comforts  of  a  primitive 
mode  of  life,  all  the  world  would  have  felt  that  they  were 
entitled  to  what  they  craved.  But  the  truth  is,  they  have 
wanted  these  things,  and  they  have  also  desired  to  profit,  and 
to  profit  greatly,  by  the  enterprise  of  more  restless  spirits  than 
themselves.  Hence  their  dealings  with  other  peoples  have 
not  been  marked  by  the  honesty  and  straightforwardness  that 
ought  to  characterize  the  simple  and  patriarchal  life  they 
maintain.  For  they  are  shrewd,  crafty,  and  evasive  in  their 
diplomacy;  and,  while  professing  a  strong  love  of  freedom  and 
independence,  they  are  yet  willing  to  exercise  a  galling  tyranny 
over  those  who  are  within  their  power. 

By  annexing  them  against  their  will  ^  in  1877,  Great  Britain 
did  them  a  wrong  which  they  properly  resented.  But  the 
wrong  was  righted,  and  the  British  Government  showed  indeed 
a  sincere  desire  to  do  the  Boers  of  the  Transvaal  full  justice. 
To  the  terms  of  the  treaty  that  was  made  between  the  Trans- 
vaal and  Great  Britain  in  1881,  the  Boers  took  exception,  for 
its  stipulations  curtailed  their  independence  to  an  unreasonable 
degree.  Not  only  did  the  treaty  provide  that  the  British  Gov- 
ernment should  approve  of  every  treaty  made  between  the 
Transvaal  and  a  foreign  power,  but  it  limited  the  right  of 
the  Transvaal  to  deal  with  the  natives,  and  it  offended  the  pride 
of  the  Boers  by  forbidding  them  to  encroach  upon  the  boun- 
daries of  their  neighbors.  Considering,  therefore,  that  these 
provisions  restricted  them  unduly,  the  Boers  proceeded  to  set 
them  aside.  For  in  the  very  year  that  the  treaty  was  con- 
cluded they  made  a  raid  into  Bechuaualand,  and  they  invaded 
Zululand  and  annexed  a  portion  of  it.  But  these  high-handed 
actions  did  not  prevent  them  from  receiving  a  fair  and  consid- 
erate treatment  at  the  hands  of  Great  Britain.  For  when  Paul 
Kruger  went  to  England  in  1883  to  secure  a  larger  measure  of 

1  The  annexation,  though  disliked  by  the  Boers,  did  not  cause  such  wide- 
spread resentment  among  them  as  has  often  been  supposed.    Bryce,  p.  159. 


CHAP.   VIII 


SOUTH   AFRICA  375 


autonomy  for  his  people,  he  obtained  about  all  that  he  demanded. 
A  new  treaty  was  made  with  the  Transvaal  in  1884,  and  the 
only  restriction  that  was  placed  upon  its  independence  was  con- 
tained in  the  following  article :  "  The  South  African  Eepub- 
lic  will  conclude  no  treaty  or  engagement  with  any  state  or 
nation  other  than  the  Orange  Free  State,  or  with  any  native 
tribe  eastward  or  westward  of  the  Republic,  until  the  same  has 
been  approved  by  her  Majesty  the  Queen."  It  is  to  be  noticed 
that  in  this  provision  no  mention  is  made  of  suzerainty,  though 
a  suzerainty  may  be  said  to  be  implied  by  the  very  character  of 
the  stipulations. 

But  it  was  during  this  very  visit  to  England  that  President 
Kruger  showed  the  insincerity  of  all  future  claims  made  by  the 
Boers  that  their  sole  desire  was  to  live  apart  by  themselves. 
For,  when  asked  whether  foreigners  would  be  well  treated  in 
the  Transvaal,  he  replied  that  the  Boers  desired  to  see  the  min- 
ing resources  of  the  Transvaal  developed  and  would  do  all  they 
could  to  further  that  end.  Accordingly,  the  Uitlanders  flocked 
into  the  Transvaal  after  gold  was  found  there  in  abundance, 
made  Johannesburg  a  thriving  and  populous  city,  and  developed 
the  gold  mines  till  they  became  the  most  productive  in  the 
world. 

But  they  did  not  find  the  Boers  ready  to  cooperate,  as  Presi- 
dent Kruger  had  vouched  that  they  would  be.  On  the  contrary, 
the  Boers  treated  the  Uitlanders  with  the  most  wanton  and 
high-handed  injustice.  That  the  Dutch  residents  of  the  Trans- 
vaal should  have  made  it  extremely  difficult  for  foreigners  to 
obtain  the  fraiichise  was  natural  and  justifiable.  The  Boers 
wished  to  maintain  their  own  institutions  and  primitive  form 
of  civilization  unimpaired;  and  this  they  had  a  perfect  right 
to  do.  Consequently,  they  were  hardly  to  be  criticised  for 
making  a  fourteen  years'  residence  in  the  Transvaal  a  necessary 
qualification  for  voting.  But  nothing  could  excuse  their 
unhandsome  treatment  of  the  people  whom  they  thus  refused 
to  enfranchise.  For  they  made  the  Uitlanders  pay  nine-tenths 
of  the  taxes  of  the  country,  and  the  revenues  thus  acquired 
they  spent  for  the  benefit  of  the  Dutch  population,  but  never 
for  the  good  of  the  Uitlanders  themselves.  Johannesburg 
remained  an  ill-paved,  ill-lighted,  and  unsanitary  city;  and, 
instead  of  helping  the  Uitlanders  in  their  mining  enterprises, 


376  GREAT   BRITAIN   AND    HER   COLONIES  book  ii 

as  Mr.  Kruger  had  promised  would  be  the  case,  the  Boers 
thwarted  and  hindered  them  by  unjust  monopolies  and  various 
petty  and  tyrannous  exactions.  Thus  they  made  it  clearly 
apparent  that,  however  much  they  despised  the  modern  gold- 
seeker  and  the  civilization  he  represents,  they  were  determined 
to  benefit  to  the  full  by  his  energy  and  his  enormous  gains. 

No  wonder,  then,  that  the  Uitlanders  grew  more  and  more 
restless  under  such  galling  treatment.  It  was  their  discontent 
in  part,  no  doubt,  that  was  responsible  for  the  futile  invasion 
of  Dr.  Jameson  in  1895 ;  and  it  was  this  same  discontent  that 
led  to  a  more  orderly  attempt  to  secure  justice  in  the  spring  of 
1899.  For  at  that  time  the  Uitlanders  united  in  demanding 
reforms  of  the  Boer  Government,  and  in  requesting  the  British 
Government  to  see  that  the  reforms  were  granted.  The  reforms 
were  twelve  in  number,  and  included  a  fair  representation  in 
the  Volksraad,  cancellation  of  monopolies,  the  independence  of 
the  courts,  and  that  the  heads  of  the  Government  of  the  Trans- 
vaal shordd  be  answerable  to  the  Volksraad. 

The  cause  of  the  Uitlanders  awakened  the  interest  of  the 
British  Government,  Mr.  Chamberlain,  the  Colonial  Secretary, 
being  especially  ready  to  exert  himself  in  their  behalf.  Nor 
was  the  Transvaal  Government,  which  really  meant  President 
Kruger,  unwilling  to  consider  the  reforms  urged  by  the  Uit- 
landers and  to  make  concessions.  The  length  of  residence 
necessary  for  obtaining  the  franchise  was  curtailed  from  four- 
teen years  to  nine,  and  then  to  seven,  and  finally  to  five;  and 
in  other  respects  a  willingness  to  conciliate  the  Uitlanders  was 
manifested.  And  yet  the  negotiations  between  Great  Britain 
and  the  Transvaal  were  at  no  time  satisfactory  to  the  former 
power,  and  the  longer  they  were  continued  the  more  unpromis- 
ing did  they  become.  For  the  crafty  Boer  Executive  was  eva- 
sive and  exasperatingly  slow,  and  in  the  end  he  made  it  plain 
that  he  meant  to  yield  nothing  without  obtaining  a  correspond- 
ing advantage.  He  conducted  the  entire  diplomatic  intercourse 
as  if  he  were  dealing  with  a  power  that  was  ready  to  regard  his 
country  as  an  equal ;  but  in  taking  this  attitude  he  made  a 
serious  mistake.  Mr.  Gla,dstone  would  perhaps  have  met  him 
in  this  spirit;  Mr.  Chamberlain  never  had  any  thought  of 
doing  so. 

Consequently,  when  President  Kruger  announced  his  terms 


CHAP.  VIII  SOUTH  AFRICA  377 

after  long  delay,  and  it  was  found  that  his  concessions  were 
made  upon  the  assumption  that  the  Transvaal  was  a  "sovereign 
international  state,"  the  situation  at  once  became  serious.  To 
some  of  the  extreme  Liberals  in  Great  Britain  this  assumption 
gave  no  offence  ;  but  in  most  Englishmen  it  roused  a  feeling  of 
indignation,  and  the  Boer  President  was  accused  of  shiftiness 
and  insincerity.  Even  the  moderate  press  now  took  an  aggres- 
sive tone,  and  the  warlike  preparations  which  Great  Britain 
had  been  making  as  a  matter  of  caution,  and  without  really 
expecting  war,  were  now  pushed  forward  in  a  vigorous  and 
determined  spirit.  The  Dutch  were  equally  warlike,  and 
neither  country  showed  any  intention  of  yielding  so  far  as  to 
relieve  the  strain  and  prevent  the  interruption  of  peaceful  rela- 
tions. Finally,  early  in  October,  1899,  the  Boers  began  hostili- 
ties and  launched  their  country  into  a  foolish  and  utterly 
unnecessary  war.  It  was  a  war  which  could  end  in  but  one 
way,  and  it  was  one  for  which  the  Boers  themselves  were 
largely  responsible ;  yet  the  blame  was  not  chiefly  theirs. 
Unprejudiced  observers  of  events  in  the  Transvaal  could  not 
ignore  the  fact  that  after  all  the  Uitlanders  did  not  have  a 
thoroughly  good  cause.  They  had  gone  into  a  foreign  state  to 
acquire  wealth,  and  this  they  got  in  abundant  measure  in  spite 
of  the  exasperating  treatment  to  which  they  were  subjected. 
Why,  then,  should  the  feeble  Dutch  state,  intolerant  and  tyran- 
nical as  its  conduct  was,  have  been  threatened  with  force  at 
all  ?  If  Great  Britain  had  prepared  no  armaments  to  support 
its  demands,  but  had  asked  for  concessions  to  the  Uitlanders 
solely  on  the  ground  of  humanity  and  justice,  concessions 
would  have  been  made.  They  would  have  been  long  withheld, 
and,  when  granted,  they  would  have  been  meagre  and  inade- 
quate. But  delay  and  scanty  justice  would  have  been  infinitely 
better  than  a  war,  the  primary  cause  of  which  was  nothing  less 
than  Anglo-Saxon  greed. ^ 

The  Boers  of   the  Transvaal  are  more  crude  and  ignorant 

iMr.  Frederick  Harrison,  who  well  represents  advanced  liberal  thought  in 
England,  denounced  the  conduct  of  the  British  Government  unsparinjily  and 
declared  that  Mr.  Chamberlain  conducted  his  negotiations  witli  the  Transvaal 
with  a  view  to  bringing  on  war.  His  criticism  of  Mr.  Chamberlain's  jiolii'V  is 
I)artially  given  in  the  Review  of  Rei'icins,  October,  ISiii).  p.  ;>S!).  A  powerful 
vindication  of  England's  policy  is  given  in  "The  Situation  in  South  Africa,"  The 
Nineteenth  Century,  46  :  522. 


378  GREAT   BRITAIN   AND   HER   COLONIES  book  ii 

than  the  Dutch  iu  the  Orange  Free  State,  and  are  utterly- 
opposed  to  progress.  In  politics,  religion,  and  social  life  they 
see  no  need  of  growth  or  change.  Paul  Kruger,  shrewd, 
bigoted,  and  narrow,  fairly  typifies  the  spirit  of  the  nation. 
Numbering  not  much  above  fifty  thousand,  the  Boers  of  the 
Transvaal  are  outnumbered  by  the  Uitlanders ;  but  this  great 
inroad  of  foreigners  only  inclined  them  to  cling  more  stub- 
bornly than  ever  to  their  own  institutions  and  ways  of  life. 
At  the  head  of  the  State  is  the  President,  who  is  chosen  for 
five  years,  and  is  assisted  by  an  Executive  Council  of  five 
members.  The  legislative  branch  of  the  Government  consists 
of  one  chamber,  termed  the  Volksraad.  Its  members  are  forty- 
four  in  number,  and  are  elected  for  four  years  by  a  suffrage 
which  is  almost  universal  among  the  Boers  themselves.  The 
President  has  no  power  to  veto  the  acts  of  the  Legislature ; 
yet  the  system  of  government  is  so  far  patriarchal  that  the 
Volksraad  is  almost  entirely  guided  and  controlled  by  the 
Executive.  A  shrewd  and  determined  President,  like  Paul 
Kruger,  has  practically  an  absolute  sway. 

The  Orange  Free  State  was  led  by  race  sympathy  to  join 
with  the  Transvaal  in  the  war  against  Great  Britain ;  but  it 
has  not  had  a  turbulent  political  career,  for  it  contains  no  rich 
gold  mines  to  bring  a  rush  of  Uitlanders  into  its  territory. 
Indeed,  it  is  an  ideal  state  for  all  who  would  avoid  the  excite- 
ments of  the  modern  world.  It  has  no  cities,  no  political 
parties,  and  no  disturbing  social  questions.  Its  people  are 
neither  rich  nor  poor,  but  they  live  in  entire  contentment  on 
the  moderate  means  which  are  within  the  reach  of  all.  The 
Boers  themselves  number  about  70,000,  and  comprise  by  far 
the  greater  part  of  the  white  population.  There  are  less  than 
150,000  Africans  in  the  country,  while  in  the  Transvaal  there 
are  more  than  600,000.  The  only  village  that  can  fairly  be 
called  a  town  is  Bloemfontein,  the  capital,  which  has  6000 
inhabitants,  of  whom  little  more  than  half  are  white.  The 
form  of  government  is  very  much  like  that  of  the  Transvaal. 
There  is  a  President  elected  for  five  years,  an  Executive  Coun- 
cil of  five  members,  and  a  Volksraad  whose  members  are  chosen 
for  four  years,  and  who  make  the  sole  legislative  chamber. 
Here,  as  in  the  Transvaal,  the  President  has  no  power  of  veto ; 
but  here,  also,  he  has  become  the  centre  of  power.     The  restric- 


CHAP.  VIII  SOUTH   AFRICA  379 

tions  upon  the  suffrage  are  so  slight  that  practically  it  belongs, 
to  all  white  citizens  who  make  their  home  in  the  State.  For 
the  Boers  have  found  no  occasion  to  adopt  the  narrow  policy 
of  the  Transvaal,  and  to  keep  the  right  of  voting  exclusively 
in  their  own  hands. 

Such  are  the  Colonies  and  Republics  of  South  Africa.  It  is 
too  early  to  prophesy  how  or  when  they  will  become  united. 
But  that  they  will  all  ultimately  become  members  of  one  con- 
federation under  Great  Britain's  control  there  can  be  no  reason- 
able doubt. 


BOOK   III 

THE   UNITED   STATES 


CHAPTER   I 

THE   BEGINNINGS    OF    THE   REPUBLIC 

"  Fourscore  and  seven  years  ago  our  fathers  brought  forth 
upon  this  continent  a  new  nation,  conceived  in  liberty,  and 
dedicated  to  the  proposition  that  all  men  are  created  equal." 
These  words,  spoken  by  Abraham  Lincoln  at  Gettysburg  in 
1863,  are  as  accurate  as  they  are  famous.  They  point  to  1776 
as  the  year  when  the  United  States  had  its  national  origin, 
and  they  point  to  democracy  as  its  national  foundation  stone. 

It  was  in  1774  that  the  First  Continental  Congress  was 
assembled  in  Philadelphia,  Massachusetts  taking  the  lead  in 
calling  it  together.  But  not  until  1776  were  the  members  of 
Congress  ready  to  declare  the  colonies  free  and  independent ; 
for  the  Americans  were  at  first  desirous  of  forcing  England  to 
treat  them  with  fairness  and  justice  rather  than  of  severing  all 
ties  with  the  mother-country.  Gradually,  however,  they  learned 
to  see  the  meaning  of  the  conflict  in  which  they  were  engaged. 
On  July  4,  1776,  the  Philadelphia  Congress  adopted  the 
famous  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  the  birth  of  a  new 
nation  was  accomplished. 

Not  all  at  once,  however,  could  the  nation  show  itself  strong, 
self-assertive,  and  able  to  exercise  vigorously  all  the  functions 
of  government.  Remembering  the  tyranny  of  Great  Britain, 
the  Colonies  clung  jealously  to  their  own  rights.  They  adopted 
Constitutions  for  themselves,  and  thereby  became  independent 
and  sovereign  States  instead  of  colonies ;  but  they  were  slow 
to  see  that  a  Constitution  was  needed  for  all  the  States  in  com- 
jnon,  that  thereby  they  might  have  a  strong  central  govern- 
ment and  acquire  the  respect  of  other  nations.  Moreover,  the 
war  with  Great  Britain  absorbed  the  energies  of  Congress,  and 
that  body  did  not  go  farther  in  the  direction  of  nation-making 
than  to  draw  up  thirteen  Articles  of  Confederation  for  the 
States  to  adopt,  if  they  saw  fit. 

383 


384  THE   UNITED   STATES  book  hi 

Eleven  of  the  States  did  adopt  them  in  1778,  and  thus  a 
rude  and  imperfect  form  of  national  government  came  into  be- 
ing. For  the  Articles  gave  the  United  States  authority  to  treat 
with  foreign  powers ;  to  declare  war ;  to  appoint  officers  for 
the  army  and  the  navy ;  to  control  military  affairs ;  to  levy 
taxes ;  to  fix  the  standard  of  money,  weights,  and  measures ; 
to  manage  Indian  affairs ;  and  to  establish  post-offices.  But 
this  government  was  after  all  a  government  only  in  name.  It 
did  not  have  distinct  executive,  legislative,  and  judicial  depart- 
ments, and  no  one  was  empowered  to  enforce  its  authority.  In 
short,  it  was  utterly  lacking  in  centralized  power. 

Accordingly,  when  the  war  for  independence  was  ended  and 
the  occupations  of  peace  were  resumed,  the  people  of  the  States 
became  more  and  more  restless  under  this  weak  and  inefficient 
control.  They  found  themselves  unable  to  collect  their  debts, 
to  obtain  protection  from  the  courts,  or  to  make  trade  and  in- 
dustry prosper.  Slowly  but  surely  the  need  of  a  strong  central 
government  made  itself  manifest,  and  a  convention  was  finally 
called  by  the  States  to  assemble  and  to  take  into  consideration 
the  condition  of  the  United  States.  On  May  4,  1787,  the  con- 
vention met  at  Philadelphia  in  Independence  Hall.  The  ablest 
political  leaders  and  thinkers  of  the  country  were  among  its 
members,  and  its  discussions  were  weighty,  prolonged,  and 
sometimes  marked  by  radical  differences  of  opinion.  More 
than  once,  indeed,  it  seemed  inevitable  that  the  convention 
should  break  up  Avithout  accomplishing  the  object  for  which  it 
was  called  together.  But,  after  sitting  four  months,  it  gave  its 
sanction  to  a  Constitution  and  submitted  it  to  the  States 
for  their  approval.  Very  slowly  and  reluctantly  was  this  ap- 
proval given  on  the  part  of  some  of  the  States.  New  York,  in 
particular,  was  quite  unwilling  to  adopt  the  new  Constitution, 
and  was  only  made  to  do  so  by  the  convincing  arguments  of 
Alexander  Hamilton.  Virginia  also  took  the  decisive  step  only 
after  much  hesitation.  But  after  these  two  great  and  strong 
States  had  set  the  example,  the  result  was  never  in  doubt. 
Nine  States  finally  ratified  the  Constitution,  and  thus,  accord- 
ing to  the  Convention,  it  became  the  law  of  the  land.  Two 
States,  however.  North  Carolina  and  Rhode  Island,  did  not  adopt 
it  until  the  newly  established  government  was  in  operation. 

By  providing  a  distinct  executive,  legislative,  and  judiciary. 


CHAP.  I  BEGINNINGS   OF   THE   REPUBLIC  385 

and  by  giving  to  each  of  these  branches  of  government  clearly 
defined  and  adequate  powers,  the  Constitution  made  a  power- 
ful and  efficient  central  government  possible.  And  that  the 
powers  are  in  almost  every  case  adequate  and  well  defined  has 
been  proved  by  the  experience  of  a  hundred  years.  To  the 
President,  to  the  Congress,  and  to  the  national  courts  of  jus- 
tice were  given  that  measure  of  authority  that  was  neces- 
sary for  a  successful  administration  of  affairs;  for  the  three 
branches  are  perhaps  as  perfectly  balanced  as  human  wisdom 
could  make  them.^  No  one  of  the  three  could  receive  any  con- 
siderable increase  of  power  without  impairing  the  efficiency  of 
the  other  two  and  endangering  the  democratic  character  of  our 
institutions.  It  is  true  that  abuses  have  grown  up  under  the 
Constitution.  The  President's  appointing  yjower  has  been  i;sed 
to  reward  party  service  in  a  scandalous  manner,  and  Congress 
has  exercised  its  right  to  tax  and  to  coin  money  with  question- 
able freedom.  But  such  abuses  do  not  necessarily  indicate 
that  the  Constitution  itself  is  defective.  Katlier  do  they  show 
that  in  a  democracy  the  character  of  the  government  depends 
upon  the  character  of  the  governed.  Popular  prejudice,  pop- 
ular error,  popular  condonement  of  public  immorality,  are 
chiefly  responsible  for  political  scandals  and  corruptions.  The 
civil  service  began  to  grow  pure  when  the  people  demanded 
that  it  should  be  pure.  And  the  national  legislation  will 
be  sane,  rational,  and  economical  when  Congressmen  are  not 
allowed  to  abuse  their  constitutional  authority  without  rebuke. 
It  must  be  admitted  that  the  clauses  in  the  Constitution  that 
give  Congress  the  right  to  fax  and  to  coin  money  are  very  gen- 
eral in  character,  and  therefore  bestow  a  power  which  is  almost 
unlimited  in  its  scope.  But  this  could  not  be  otherwise.  The 
fundamental  law  of  the  land  could  not  presci-ibe  either  the 
manner  in  which  these  important  powers  should  be  exercised, 
or  the  extent  of  the  authority  they  convey.  Such  matters  of 
detail  were  necessarily  left  to  the  judgment  of  Congress,  which 
must  have  freedom  to  decide  questions  of  coinage  and  taxation 
as  the  needs  of  the  nation  may  from  time  to  time  require. 
That  Congress  has  interpreted  the  taxation  and  coinage  clauses 

1  Some  students  of  American  politics  take  a  different  view.   Consult  Wilson's 
"  Con.icressiorial  Government,"  and  Bryce's  "  Tlie  American  Commonwealth," 
Vol.  I.  Ch.  XXI.  (second  edition  revised,  ISDIJ. 
2o 


386  THE   UNITED   STATES  book  hi 


properly,  and  has  used  the  authority  they  bestow  in  a  strictly 
constitutional  manner,  has  been  denied  and  always  will  be 
denied.  Indeed,  the  interpretation  of  these  two  clauses  has  been 
directly  or  indirectly  the  origin  of  much  of  the  fiercest  party 
strife  that  the  nation  has  known.  For  some  consider  that  it  is 
unconstitutional  to  impose  taxes  for  any  other  purpose  than 
that  of  raising  revenue,  or  to  make  the  coinage  clause  cover  the 
right  to  establish  a  legal  tender ;  while  others  believe  that  it  is 
strictly  constitutional  to  tax  for  the  purpose  of  protecting  and 
encouraging  industry,  and  to  force  a  coin  into  circulation  by 
making  it  legal  tender.  But  these  differing  schools  of  political 
thinkers  did  not  come  into  existence  because  the  language  of 
the  Constitution  is  loose  and  inadequate.  They  arose  from 
two  opposite  tendencies  of  human  thought.  For  whenever  a 
document  is  under  discussion,  be  it  religious,  political,  or  con- 
cerned with  everyday  affairs,  there  will  always  be  found  some 
who  interpret  it  by  the  letter  and  others  who  judge  it  by  its 
spirit.  Hence  the  Constitution  will  always  have  its  broad  and 
its  literal  constructionists  ;  and  its  true  meaning  will  come  to 
light  through  the  arguments  and  the  political  action  of  these 
two  classes  of  expounders. 

That  the  Constitution  is  perfect  it  would  be  absurd  to  state ; 
for  such  an  instrument  reflects  the  limitations  of  its  founders 
and  of  the  period  when  it  was  framed.  From  time  to  time  it 
has  been  necessary  to  amend  it ;  but  the  very  character  of  the 
amendments  is  a  tribute  to  its  excellence.  For  they  have 
always  been  designed  to  supplement  and  complete  it,  never  to 
destroy  or  undo  anytliing  that  was  vital  and  fundamental. 
In  constructing  it,  its  framers  did  a  noble  work  and  earned  the 
lasting  gratitude  of  the  country.  Indeed,  they  builded  better 
than  they  knew,  for  they  could  not  foresee  what  difficulties 
and  dangers  the  Republic  would  have  to  meet  by  the  aid  of 
this  fundamental  law.  They  did  not  realize  that  the  country 
would  grow  vast  until  only  the  telegraph  and  the  steam  railway 
could  hold  its  parts  together  and  give  them  unity  of  thought 
and  life.  They  did  not  know  what  mischief  would  be  wrought 
by  the  spoils  system,  by  financial  heresies,  and  by  extravagant 
legislation.  Nor  did  they  see  that  the  cloud  of  slavery,  then  no 
bigger  than  a  man's  hand  above  the  political  horizon,  was  to 
overspread  the  sky. 


CHAPTER  II 

ADMINISTRATIONS    OF    WASHTNGTON,    ADAMS,    AND   JEFFERSON 

New  York  was  the  first  capital  of  the  Republic,  and  Wash- 
ington was  its  first  President.  Born  in  1732,  the  great  Vir- 
ginian was  in  the  full  vigor  of  his  powers,  and  was  able  to 
guide  the  young  and  struggling  nation  through  perilous  seas. 
From  the  first  day  of  his  administration  he  found  his  task  an 
arduous  one.  Already  was  the  country  disturbed  by  virulent 
party  warfare ;  for  the  Federalists,  who  believed  that  the  Con- 
stitution gave  the  government  full  and  satisfactory  powers, 
were  vehemently  opposed  by  the  Anti-Federalists,  who  were 
enemies  of  centralization  and  stood  ready  to  accuse  Congress 
and  the  President  of  abusing  their  authority.  Even  the  Cabi- 
net was  not  free  from  the  dissensions  of  these  rival  factions ; 
for  Washington  made  Hamilton,  the  leader  of  the  Federal- 
ists, Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  while  Jefferson,  the  foremost 
statesman  of  the  Anti-Federalist  party,  served  for  a  time  as 
Secretary  of  State.  These  two  engaged  in  many  heated  and 
acrimonious  discussions  ;  but  Jefferson  retired  from  office  early 
in  1794,  while  Hamilton  retained  his  position  in  the  Cabinet 
and  continued  to  render  the  country  those  services  whose 
value  it  is  hard  to  overestimate.  It  was  through  his  influence 
that  the  United  States  undertook  to  pay  all  sums  which  the 
Confederation  had  owed  to  foreigners,  to  receive  the  worthless 
continental  currency  and  give  good  money  in  exchange  for  it, 
and  to  become  responsible  for  all  those  debts  which  the  States 
had  incurred  while  acting  for  the  good  of  the  whole  country. 
The  last  measure  excited  much  opposition,  however,  and  was 
only  carried  through  Congress  by  means  of  a  political  bargain. 
It  happened  that  the  question  of  choosing  a  permanent  capital 
city  for  the  country  was  under  discussion,  and  Hamilton  won 
two  Virginia  Congressmen  to  his  side  by  promising  to  use  his 

387 


388  THE   UNITED   STATES  book  in 

influence  in  favor  of  a  site  upon  the  Potomac.  Thus  the  pas- 
sage of  tlie  obnoxious  measure  was  secured,  and  the  Republic 
proved  itself  a  thoroughly  honest  debtor.  Henceforth  its  credit 
was  good  all  over  the  world. 

But  Hamilton  did  not  end  his  financial  services  to  the  country 
by  seeing  that  it  paid  its  debts.  In  order  to  bring  the  Govern- 
ment into  close  relations  with  the  operations  of  business  and 
commerce,  he  secured  the  establishment  of  a  national  bank 
under  a  United  States  charter.  This  project  was  not  carried 
through  without  encountering  the  opposition  of  the  Anti-Eederal- 
ists,  who  saw  in  it  a  scheme  to  fortify  the  central  authority,  and 
who  finally  succeeded,  with  the  aid  of  Jackson,  in  bringing  the 
institution  to  an  end.  But  the  bank  did  good  service  for  many 
years ;  and,  although  it  might  possibly  have  been  a  source  of 
corruption  under  present  political  conditions,  it  did  not,  while 
it  lasted,  promote  those  dishonest  schemes  which  the  Anti- 
Federalists,  and  afterwards  the  Democrats,  continually  laid  at 
its  doors. 

More  important  than  the  question  of  a  national  bank  was 
that  of  raising  a  revenue.  To  this  matter  Hamilton  gave  much 
thought  and  Congress  devoted  much  discussion.  Direct  taxa- 
tion was  not  in  favor,  and  it  was  finally  decided  to  tax  imports 
and  spirituous  liquors  made  in  the  country.  The  duty  on  im- 
ports was  imposed  chiefly  for  the  purpose  of  securing  an  income 
for  the  Government;  but  even  in  those  early  days  it  gave  a 
certain  measure  of  protection  to  native  industries,^  and  as  the 
duties  were  raised  again  and  again,  their  protective  character 
assumed  an  ever  increasing  importance.  Already  therefore,  in 
the  very  beginnings  of  the  nation's  history,  the  taxation  clause 
is  so  interpreted  as  to  give  rise  to  those  profound  political  dif- 
ferences which  are  as  great  to-day  as  they  were  a  hundred  years 
ago.  So  also  did  the  tax  on  spirituous  liquors  have  an  impor- 
tance beyond  that  of  swelling  the  national  revenues.  For  it 
established  the  right  of  the  Government  to  tax  its  citizens,  and 
thus  greatly  helped  to  strengthen  its  authority. 

These  various  financial  measures,  which  were  for  the  most 
part  attributable  to  Hamilton's   genius,  did  much  to  win  the 

1  Schouler's  "  United  States,"  I.  SC,pt  spq.;  R.  W.  Thompson's  "History of  the 
Protective  Tariff  Laws,"  Ch.  V. ;  Orrin  Leslie  Elliot's  "  Tariff  Controversy  in 
the  United  States,"  1789-1833,  pp.  70-73. 


CHAP.  II        WASHINGTON,  ADAMS,    AND   JEFFERSON  389 

Republic  the  respect  of  foreign  nations ;  bnt  England  and 
France,  the  two  powers  with  which  it  was  especially  desirous 
of  having  intercourse,  were  slow  to  give  it  the  treatment  due 
to  an  equal.  England,  being  at  war  with  France,  claimed  the 
right  to  search  vessels  for  seamen  of  British  birth,  to  seize  pro- 
visions for  the  enemy  which  she  might  find  in  neutral  vessels, 
and  to  appropriate  the  produce  of  French  Colonies  wherever 
found ;  while  France  sent  to  America  a  mischievous  character 
named  Genet,  to  excite  sentiment  in  favor  of  his  country  and 
issue  commissions  to  privateers.  This  manifest  violation 
of  neutrality  Washington  promptly  brought  to  an  end,  bnt 
even  he  could  not  control  the  rancorous  antagonism  of  the 
Federalists  and  the  Anti-Federalists,  who  espoused  respec- 
tively the  cause  of  England  and  of  France,  and  who  made 
the  country  ring  with  their  belligerent  cries.  Apparently, 
each  party  was  willing  to  plunge  the  country  into  war  with  the 
nation  it  disliked,  and  to  have  it  become  the  armed  ally  of  the 
one  it  favored.  In  1795  war  with  England  seemed  so  immi- 
nent that  Washington  sent  John  Jay  to  London  to  avert  it ; 
and  though  the  treaty  which  Jay  arranged  still  left  England 
the  right  to  search  American  vessels  and  was  in  other  respects 
unsatisfactory,  it  was  ratified  by  the  Senate  and  signed  by 
Washington.  A  loud  outcry  was  raised  against  it  when  its 
provisions  were  known ;  but  Washington  undoubtedly  did  right 
in  giving  it  his  signature,  as  he  thereby  saved  the  country  from 
a  conflict  for  wdiich  it  was  ill  prepared.  Moreover,  merely  by 
securing  a  treaty,  though  an  imperfect  one,  from  so  great  a 
power  as  England,  the  Republic  gained  strength  and  dignity 
before  the  world. 

Less  important  than  this  treaty,  but  nevertheless  indicative 
of  the  nation's  growing  strength,  was  one  that  was  made  with 
Spain  in  the  course  of  the  same  year.  For  the  Spaniards 
claimed  that  they  owned  the  Mississippi  River  as  well  as  the 
country  west  of  it,  and  had  given  great  annoyance  to  tlie  set- 
tlers in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  who  desired  to  sentl  tlioir 
produce  to  New  Orleans  by  boat.  This  privilege  the  Govern- 
ment secured  for  them  by  the  Mississi])pi  Treaty,  which  gave 
both  Spain  and  the  United  States  the  free  use  of  the  river. 

On  its  own  soil  also  the  Government  found  opportunities  of 
asserting  itself.     For  Anthony  Wayne  crushed  the  Indians  in 


390  THE   UNITED   STATES  book  hi 

the  West  after  they  had  gained  two  signal  victories  over  care- 
less generals ;  and  an  insurrection  which  broke  out  in  Penn- 
sylvania was  promptly  suppressed  by  military  force.  It  was 
occasioned  by  the  resistance  of  the  settlers  to  the  tax  on  dis- 
tilled spirits ;  but  the  insurgents  gave  way  when  they  found 
themselves  pitted  against  the  armed  strength  of  the  Govern- 
ment. 

Thus  the  young  nation  was  steadily  gaining  in  power  under 
its  first  Executive.  AVashington  retired  from  public  life  at  the 
end  of  his  second  term,  and  he  could  look  with  entire  satisfac- 
tion upon  the  progress  made  during  his  two  administrations. 
The  Constitution  had  proved  adequate  under  the  government 
which  it  had  established,  the  weakness  and  instability  of  the 
Confederation  had  passed  away,  and  the  country  had  grown 
and  flourished  in  spite  of  serious  obstacles.  It  had  met  its 
financial  obligations,  raised  its  own  revenues,  treated  with 
two  foreign  powers,  avoided  war  under  great  provocation,  en- 
forced law,  and  suppressed  insurrection.  The  Republic  there- 
fore v^^as  no  longer  a  mere  experiment.  Through  Washington's 
wise  guidance  it  had  become  a  nation. 

The  second  President  of  the  United  States  was  John  Adams, 
a  man  narrow,  obstinate,  and  quarrelsome,  but  inflexible  in  his 
devotion  to  the  public  welfare.  This  devotion  he  had  ample 
opportunity  to  show  during  his  single  term  of  office ;  for,  by 
preferring  the  good  of  the  whole  country  to  the  demands  of 
his  own  party,  he  wrought  the  downfall  of  the  Federalists. 
Through  prestige  rather  than  throvigh  numbers  the  Federal- 
ists had  maintained  their  ascendency  up  to  this  time  and  had 
elected  their  candidate,  Adams,  by  a  small  majority  in  the 
Electoral  College.  But  their  lack  of  moderation  and  foresight 
now  proved  their  undoing.  During  the  earlier  portion  of 
Adams's  administration  the  Anti-Federalists  were  under  a 
cloud.  For  French  cruisers  seized  hundreds  of  American  ves- 
sels ;  and  when  a  special  embassy  was  sent  to  France  to  re- 
monstrate, it  was  met  with  insulting  and  dishonest  proposals. 
These  proposals  were  indignantly  rejected  and  the  ambassa- 
dors were  ordered  to  leave  France.  They  did  so;  but  when 
the  treatment  they  had  received  was  made  known  in  the  United 
States,  a  storm  of  indignation  swept  over  the  land.  France 
and  all  its  partisans  were  severely  condemned,  and  the  Feder- 


CHAP.  II         WASHINGTON,  ADAMS,  AND  JEFFERSON  391 

alists  now  liad  a  great  opportunity.  But,  instead  of  making 
the  most  of  it,  they  now  passed  the  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws 
and  compassed  their  own  ruin.  By  the  Alien  Laws  the  Presi- 
dent could  send  out  of  the  country  any  foreigner  whom  he 
considered  dangerous  to  its  peace ;  and  by  the  Sedition  Laws 
he  could  fine  and  imprison  those  guilty  of  conspiring  against 
the  Government,  or  acting  maliciously  toward  it. 

In  passing  these  laws  the  Federalists  had  counted  on  the 
support  of  the  country,  but  they  only  succeeded  in  exciting 
the  alarm  of  the  opponents  of  centralization.  The  new  laws 
were  widely  censured.  The  legislatures  of  Virginia  and  Ken- 
tucky even  declared  them  unconstitutional,  and  threatened  to 
withhold  allegiance  to  the  Government.  Moreover,  a  new 
embassy  was  sent  to  France  and  was  favorably  received  by 
Napoleon  Bonaparte,  who  now  directed  French  policy.  The 
cruisers  ceased  to  capture  American  vessels,  and  a  satisfactory 
treaty  between  the  two  countries  was  concluded.  Toward  this 
result  Adams  himself  labored  assiduously,  preferring  peace  to 
an  ignoble  party  triumph.  But  the  Federalists  felt  that  they 
were  abandoned  by  their  leader;  and  as  England,  whose  inter- 
ests they  had  championed,  still  acted  in  an  overbearing  manner, 
their  policy  had  nothing  to  recommend  it  to  the  country. 
Unable  to  avert  political  defeat,  they  held  Adams  responsible 
for  their  loss  of  prestige  and  power,  and  bitterly  accused  him 
of  ingratitude  toward  those  who  had  secured  him  his  high 
office.  But  Adams's  course  had  been  too  patriotic  to  be  justly 
open  to  censure;  and  even  the  Federalists  ultimately  acknowl- 
edged this  by  endeavoring  to  secure  his  reelection.  He 
received  sixty-five  votes  in  the  Electoral  College;  but  Jef- 
ferson and  Burr  each  had  seventy-three,  and  the  election  was 
therefore  thrown  upon  the  House  of  Representatives.^  In  that 
body  Jefferson  received  a  majority,  and  the  Anti-Federalists, 
who  were  now  called  National  Republicans,  thus  completed 
their  triumph  over  their  political  opponents. 

Thomas  Jefferson  is  remembered  chiefly  as  a  writer  and 
thinker,  but  as  an  Executive  he  showed  unusual  capacity.    He 

1  It  was  owing  to  the  troubles  that  arose  from  this  electoral  contest  that 
the  Twelfth  Amendment  to  the  Coustitutiou  was  passed  in  1804,  and  electors 
were  thenceforth  required  to  vote  separately  for  President  and  Vice-President. 
Before  this  an  elector  balloted  for  two  names,  without  specifying  the  office 
each  of  his  two  candidates  was  to  hold. 


392  THE   UNITED   STATES  book  hi 

was  reelected  in  1804,  and,  during  his  two  administrations,  he 
reduced  the  public  debt,  fortitied  the  seaports,  lightened  taxa- 
tion, rendered  the  militia  more  efficient,  and  secured  lands 
from  the  Indians  by  giving  them  fair  compensation  and  induc- 
ing them  to  migrate  west  of  the  Mississippi.  With  the  help 
^of  Decatur  he  also  humbled  the  Barbary  pirates,  who  infested 
the  Mediterranean  and  seriouslj^  interfered  with  the  commerce 
of  maritime  nations.  But  unquestionably  the  greatest  service 
that  Jefferson  rendered  the  country  was  the  purchase  of  the 
Louisiana  tract,  in  1803.  Pressed  by  the  exigencies  of  war, 
Napoleon  parted  with  that  vast  territory  for  the  sum  of  fifteen 
million  dollars.  In  assuming  the  authority  to  make  the  pur- 
chase, Jefferson  clearly  went  beyond  the  powers  delegated  to 
him  by  the  Constitution,  and  thereby  showed  strikingly  how 
political  theory  must  sometimes  give  way  to  national  require- 
ments.^ For  he,  the  avowed  champion  of  the  Anti-Federalists, 
greatly  strengthened  the  central  Government.  But,  whatever 
may  be  thought  of  his  consistency,  he  conferred  a  vast  benefit 
upon  the  country  by  this  action,  which  was  ratified  by  Congress 
and  heartily  approved  by  the  people. 

Not  equally  successful  was  Jefferson's  management  of  our 
foreign  relations.  France  and  England  were  still  at  war,  and, 
in  their  efforts  to  cripple  each  other's  commerce,  they  practised 
high-handed  tyranny  upon  the  sea.  Napoleon  claimed  the 
right  to  seize  all  vessels  trading  with  England  or  her  Colonies; 
while  England  prohibited  all  commerce  with  France  or  her 
allies.  Thus  the  growing  trade  of  America  was  checked,  and 
Jefferson  determined  to  bring  these  two  arrogant  nations  to 
terms  by  an  act  of  retaliation.  He  therefore  persuaded  Con- 
gress to  pass  an  Embargo  Bill,  which  forbade  United  States 
vessels  to  leave  American  ports  for  Europe.  But  it  was  the 
United  States  that  suffered  chiefly  from  this  measure.  For 
the  nation  soon  grew  impoverished,  and  discontent  became 

1  Jeiferson  himself  said  of  the  purchase,  in  his  correspondence:  "The 
Executive,  in  seizing  tlie  fugitive  occurrence  which  so  much  advances  the 
good  of  tlie  country,  has  done  an  act  beyond  tlie  Constitution.  The  Legisla- 
ture, in  casting  behind  them  metaphysical  subtleties,  and  risking  themselves 
like  faithful  servants,  must  ratify  and  pay  for  it,  and  throw  themselves  on  the 
country  for  doing  for  them,  unaut]u)rized,  what  we  know  they  would  have 
done  for  themselves  had  they  been  in  a  situation  to  do  it."  —  "Works,"  IV. 
500  (edition  published  at  Washington  in  1853) . 


CHAP.  II        WASHINGTON,  ADAMS,  AND   JEFFERSON  393 


widespread.  So  tlie  Embargo  Bill  was  repealed,  and  in  its 
place  was  passed  a  Non-Intercourse  Act,  which  allowed  com- 
merce with  other  European  countries  than  England  and  France. 
By  this  measure  the  situation  was  improved,  but  was  still 
strained  and  difficult.  Only  Avise  statesmanship  could  keep 
the  nation  from  ultimately  engaging  in  war  with  one  or  the 
other  of  these  two  powers. 

During  Jefferson's  administrations  new  lands  were  occupied 
and  cultivated,  and  the  Kepublic  steadily  grew  in  population. 
The  valley  of  the  Ohio  was  now  becoming  settled,  and  there 
was  a  continuous  flow  of  hardy  pioneers  across  the  southern 
stretches  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains  into  the  "dark  and 
bloody  ground."  And  significant  it  was  that  the  first  success- 
ful application  of  steam  to  navigation  was  contemporaneous 
with  this  early  westward  migration.  Robert  Fulton's  ^  first 
steamboat,  the  Clermont,  plied  on  the  Hudson  in  1807;  and 
this  invention  meant  much  more  than  rapid  transit  on  the 
water.  It  meant  that  American  ingenuity  was  at  work;  that 
successive  inventions  were  to  triumph  over  distance  and  mul- 
tiply the  power  of  human  labor;  and  that  thus  the  vast  extent 
of  the  country  was  to  offer  no  barrier  to  intercourse,  and  its 
vast  resources  were  to  be  made  available  for  national 
prosperity. 

But  more  important  than  this  external  growtli  of  the  country 
was  a  quiet  movement  that  attracted  no  attention  at  the  time. 
The  Supreme  Court  of  the  land  was  helping  to  solidify  the 
nation.  Its  justices  were  able  men,  and  their  decisions  were, 
on  the  whole,  in  favor  of  national  unity  and  against  State 
sovereignty.  Of  these  justices  the  ablest  was  John  Marshall 
of  Virginia.  His  remarkable  breadth  of  mind  and  his  profound 
knowledge  of  the  law,  used  as  they  were  to  strengthen  the 
power  of  the  central  Government,  were  of  inestimable  service 
to  the  American  people.'^ 

1  .John  Fitch  was  the  real  inventor  of  the  steamboat.  As  early  as  ITHO 
a  small  steam  vessel,  constructed  by  him,  carried  passengers  w^  and  down 
the  Delaware  dnriny;  the  entire  summer. 

2  It  is  impossible  to  understand  thoroughly  the  political  history  of  the 
United  States  without  studying  the  more  important  decisions  of  the  Suprenn' 
Bench,  especially  those  rendered  while  the  nation  was  still  in  its  infancy  and 
the  powers  of  tiie  central  Government  were  not  clearly  apprehended.  Con- 
sult Boyd's  "  Cases  on  Constitutional  Law  "  ;  or  the  larger  collection  of  cases 
by  Professor  Thayer. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE   ADMINISTRATIONS    OF    MADISON,    MONROE,    AND    JOHN 

QUINCY    ADAMS 

Jefferson  was  succeeded  by  James  Madison,  also  a  Repub- 
lican, on  March  4,  1809.  The  very  day  that  Madison  assumed 
office  the  Non-Intercourse  Act  went  into  operation,  and  the 
measure  seemed  ominous  of  the  troubles  of  the  administration. 
For  France  and  England  were  still  injuring  our  commerce 
by  their  tyrannical  edicts,  the  conduct  of  the  latter  power 
being  particularly  offensive.  Its  warships  seized  hundreds  of 
American  vessels  and  impressed  thousands  of  American  sea- 
men; while  Napoleon,  seeing  that  these  high-handed  actions 
roused  the  bitterest  resentment  in  the  United  States,  deter- 
mined to  profit  by  the  situation.  He  promised  that,  so  far  as 
the  United  States  was  concerned,  he  would  withdraw  his 
decrees  prohibiting  commerce  with  England.  Madison  was 
duped  by  the  promise.  At  his  recommendation  Congress 
repealed  the  Non-Intercourse  Act  so  far  as  it  related  to  France ; 
and  the  relations  between  the  United  States  and  England 
became  exceedingly  strained.  England's  aggressions  upon  the 
sea  did  not  cease.  The  war  party  in  the  United  States  became 
urgent  and  clamorous.  Hence,  even  though  Napoleon  never 
repealed  his  obnoxious  edicts  as  he  had  promised,  Madison 
consented  to  a  declaration  of  war  against  England,  which  was 
formally  made  on  June  18,  1812. 

The  war  lasted  two  years  and  a  half.  The  Americans  suffered 
several  defeats  through  inferior  generalship;  yet  they  won 
some  signal  victories  on  land,  and  on  the  sea  they  were  almost 
uniformly  victorious.  But  as  the  war  dragged  on,  it  was  seen 
to  have  no  sufficient  cause,  and  both  nations  became  tired  of 
it.     So  peace  was  signed  on  December  24,  1814. 

By  the  terms  of  the  treaty  England  did  not  agree  to  abandon 

394 


CHAP.  Ill         MADISON,  MONROE,  AND   J.   Q.  ADAMS  396 

the  right  to  search  American  vessels;  but  the  right  was  no 
longer  exercised,  and  the  United  States  thus  derived  a  sub- 
stantial advantage  from  the  war.  More  important  than  this 
gain,  however,  was  the  respect  which  the  Republic  acquired 
all  over  the  civilized  world.  Six  months  after  peace  was  estab- 
lished with  Great  Britain,  Decatur  humbled  the  Barbary  States 
a  second  time ;  and  this  success,  added  to  the  naval  victories 
gained  in  the  recent  war,  gave  the  United  States  the  character 
of  a  powerful  and  independent  nation.  Moreover,  the  War  of 
1812  revealed  the  growth  of  a  truly  national  character.  Of  the 
men  of  1755  Parkman  writes,  "  The  colonist  was  not  then  an 
American;  he  was  simply  a  provincial,  — and  a  narrow  one."* 
Perhaps  this  could  not  have  been  said  at  the  close  of  the  Revo- 
lution; but  at  any  rate  it  could  not  be  said  after  the  War  of 
1812.  The  victories  of  the  American  navy  were  truly  national 
victories.  They  were  won  by  no  accident.  They  were  due  to 
the  intelligence,  the  alertness,  the  enthusiasm,  and  the  rapid 
movements  of  the  American  seamen.  Already  it  was  becom- 
ing apparent  that  "  a  nation  conceived  in  liberty  and  dedicated 
to  the  proposition  that  all  men  are  created  equal "  must  produce 
its  own  peculiar  type  of  citizen. 

A  further  result  of  the  war  was  the  change  that  was  now 
made  in  the  character  of  the  nation's  financial  legislation. 
For,  after  peace  was  established,  Congress  found  that  domestic 
commerce  was  paralyzed,  foreign  trade  crippled,  and  the  coun- 
try burdened  with  a  debt  of  one  hundred  million  dollars. 
Accordingly,  it  not  only  resorted  to  increased  taxation  for  the 
purpose  of  filling  the  depleted  treasury,  but  it  also  adopted  a  dis- 
tinctive protective  policy  in  order  to  encourage  the  languishing 
industries  of  the  country.  In  particular,  it  was  desired  that 
the  cotton  grown  in  the  South  should  be  made  into  fabrics  by 
domestic  labor;  for  England  was  taxing  American  cotton  in 
order  to  stimulate  cotton  raising  in  India,  and  was  thus  injur- 
ing the  market  for  the  South's  staple  product.  So  a  new  tariff 
law  was  passed  in  1816;  and  though  the  duties  it  established 
were  still  moderate,  averaging  only  about  fifteen  per  cent, 
they  were  still  high  enough  to  accomplish  what  was  expected 
from  them.  The  Southern  planter  now  found  a  market  for  his 
cotton  in  New  England,  where  cotton  cloths  began  to  be  made 
1  "  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,"  1. 169. 


896  THE   UNITED    STATES  book  itt 

in  great  quantities;  manufacturers  grew  rich,  and  men  and 
women  found  employment  in  the  factories.  Thus  the  nation 
became  committed  to  the  policy  of  protection,  and  the  tariff 
law  of  1816  must  be  considered  the  most  important  event  of 
Madison's  administrations;  for,  though  it  brought  immediate 
prosperity,  it  soon  helped  to  divide  the  North  and  the  South 
and  to  intensify  party  warfare. 

In  1817  Madison  was  succeeded  by  James  Monroe  of  Vir- 
ginia,, who  was  reelected  in  1820.  The  period  covered  by  his 
two  administrations  has  been  called  the  Era  of  Good  Feeling; 
for  the  people  of  the  country  forgot  the  animosities  of  party 
under  the  influence  of  prosperity  and  universal  contentment. 
Yet  political  dissension  had  not  died  out  of  the  nation.  On 
the  contrary  it  was  striking  its  roots  deeper  than  ever.  Very 
soon  the  old  quarrel  between  the  supporters  of  the  central 
Government  and  the  champions  of  State  rights  was  to  break 
out  again;  and  even  in  Monroe's  first  administration  there 
were  heard  mutterings  of  the  coming  storm.  For  slavery, 
recognized,  though  not  formally  and  explicitly  countenanced, 
in  the  Constitution,  had  developed  a  vast  political  significance, 
and  now  began  to  force  itself  upon  the  attention  of  the  nation. 
The  framers  of  the  Constitution  expected  slavery  to  die  of 
itself  in  the  course  of  no  long  period  of  years ;  so  they  said 
as  little  about  it  as  possible.  But  the  invention  of  the  cotton 
gin  by  Eli  Whitney,  in  1793,  prevented  this  expectation  from 
becoming  realized.  It  made  slave  labor  valuable.  To  the 
Southern  planter  cotton  stood  for  wealth,  and  the  negro  for 
the  tool  that  brought  this  wealth  into  his  coffers.  Hence,  he 
began  to  regard  slavery  as  vital  to  the  prosperity  of  the  South. 
He  would  not  hear  of  its  decline.  He  imperiously  demanded 
that  it  should  grow  and  flourish. 

Thus  slavery  became  part  of  the  very  fibre  of  Southern  life. 
It  gave  a  peculiar  character  to  the  entire  region  that  cherished 
it.  Indeed,  it  caused  a  distinct  and  special  type  of  civilization 
to  grow  up  in  the  United  States;  for  the  institution  exercised 
a  separative  influence,  from  whatever  side  it  was  regarded. 
Its  various  aspects  therefore  demand  a  moment's  attention. 
It  may  appropriately  be  considered  from  the  social,  the 
economic,  and  the  humanitarian  points  of  view. 

I.    The    influence  of   slavery  upon    the   social  life  of   the 


CHAP.  Ill         MADISON,   MONROE,  AND   J.   Q.  ADAMS  397 


South  was  profound  and  far-reaching.  Life  on  a  Southern 
plantation  was  almost  ideally  delightful;  ease,  dreamy  quiet, 
repose,  and  languor  steeped  the  very  atmosphere.  The  asperi- 
ties, the  fierce  excitements,  and  the  wearing  competitions  of 
business  life  were  absent.  On  the  best  estates  high-bred 
manners,  social  grace,  and  the  most  generous  hospitality  were 
conspicuous.  The  plantations  being  extensive,  and  families, 
in  consequence,  being  separated  by  considerable  distances, 
neighborly  intercourse  took  a  very  different  character  from  that 
of  a  JSTew  England  village.  The  planters  kept  open  house, 
welcomed  all  their  friends  from  the  surrounding  country,  and 
visits  were  measured  by  days  and  weeks  rather  than  by  hours. 
Education  was  not  developed  as  it  was  in  New  England,  but 
the  intellectual  life  was  by  no  means  barren.  The  planter 
read  and  studied  much  in  the  solitude  of  his  own  library,  and 
discussed  politics  at  length  when  he  visited  the  estates  adjoin- 
ing his  own.  He  had  the  genius  for  affairs  that  belongs  to  the 
English  character.  Southern  statesmen  have  been  conspicuous 
for  political  learning,  intellectual  vigor,  and  keenness  in 
debate.  Nor  were  })rofound  scholarship  and  scientific  research 
unknown  on  the  Southern  plantation.  But  the  indolence 
engendered  by  slavery  made  such  mental  achievement  unprofit- 
able to  the  world  at  large.  The  slave-owner  studied  and 
acquired,  but  he  did  not  publish.  Even  in  his  intellectual 
pursuits  he  was  rather  the  gentleman  of  leisure  than  the 
scholar.  The  unrest  of  the  modern  world  did  not  reach  and 
possess  him. 

II.  Economically  considered,  slavery  was  a  great  hindrance 
to  Southern  prosperity.  The  immense  mineral  resources  of 
the  South  were  neglected.  The  wealth  of  her  forests  was 
hardly  touched.  Factories  were  almost  unknown.  Cotton 
was  king.  Nearly  all  other  products  were  passed  by  in  favor 
of  this  one  staple  article.  From  some  of  the  States  rice,  tur- 
pentine, and  other  articles  were  exported;  but  corn,  bacon, 
and  various  foods  were  produced  chiefly  to  satisfy  home  con- 
sumption and  maintain  the  slaves.  It  was  on  cotton  that  the 
planter  relied  for  his  yearly  income. 

Thus  the  whole  South  was  only  half  developed;  its  indus- 
tries were  narrowed,  its  faculties  were  without  due  stimulus. 
Its  people  lacked    variety    of    occupation.      Their    ingenuity 


398  THE   UNITED   STATES  book  in 

received  no  exercise.  They  were  not  trained  to  do  all  things 
for  themselves,  as  they  found  to  their  sorrow  when  the  Civil 
War  came.  Moreover,  slave  labor  was  very  costly.  The 
freeman  works  with  intelligence,  with  care,  with  thrift,  with 
energy.  The  slave  is  stupid,  clumsy,  wasteful,  and  listless  in 
performing  his  appointed  tasks.  He  plies  his  tools  with  indo- 
lence and  breaks  them  often.  It  is  asserted  that  one  freeman 
in  the  North  did  as  much  as  two  or  three  negro  slaves. 

III.  The  cruelty  of  slavery  in  the  Southern  States  has  often 
been  exaggerated;  but  at  best  the  institution  was  not  a  humane 
one.  In  Virginia  the  negroes  were  well  off.  They  were  treated 
with  great  kindness,  were  sometimes  regarded  with  atfection, 
and,  on  the  whole,  were  a  very  happy  and  contented  class. 
They  were  often  deeply  attached  to  their  masters;  and  among 
the  Virginia  planters  there  existed  a  strong  feeling  against 
abusing  them.  And  the  same  could  be  said  of  other  parts  of 
the  South  where  the  institution  existed  under  the  most  favor- 
able conditions.  Wliere  a  planter  was  kind-hearted  and  the 
slaves  were  not  exceptionally  stupid,  vicious,  and  indolent,  all 
was  well.  But  many  slave-owners  were  harsh  and  passionate, 
and  employed  brutal  overseers  to  keep  the  slaves  in  order. 
And  in  some  portions  of  the  South  the  slaves  were  extremely 
coarse,  brutish,  and  degraded,  and  could  only  be  kept  in  order 
through  fear.  In  such  cases  cruelty  was  common.  Moreover, 
the  whole  process  of  slave  auctions  was  a  degrading  one. 
Families  were  separated,  men  and  women  were  examined  and 
criticised  like  cattle,  and  the  passion  of  greed  was  excited  by 
the  sight  of  human  flesh. 

Altogether,  there  was  enough  that  was  baneful  in  the  insti- 
tution to  excite  the  just  censure  of  Northern  philanthropists. 
The  strictures  of  these  enthusiasts  were  indeed  undiscriminat- 
ing  and  unreasonably  severe,  but  they  had  some  justification. 
So  the  Abolitionists  lashed  the  institution  unsparingly,  and 
stirred  up  much  bitter  feeling  between  the  North  and  the 
South. 

Thus  slavery  contributed  in  every  possible  way  to  the  rupture 
of  the  Union.  Its  social,  its  economic,  and  its  humanitarian 
sides  all  helped  to  give  Southern  life  a  distinctive  character, 
and  to  prevent  the  South  from  amalgamating  with  the  rest  of 
the  country.    More  and  more  did  the  people  of  the  South  learn 


CHAP,  m        MADISON,   MONROE,  AND   J.  Q.  ADAMS  399 

to  think  and  feel  for  their  own  section  rather  than  for  the 
country  at  large,  and  more  and  more  did  they  desire  to  obtain 
new  territory  for  the  spread  of  their  "peculiar  institution." 
For  they  were  unwilling  to  see  the  free  States  gain  the  ascen- 
dency in  the  national  Congress.  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  were 
properly  admitted  to  the  Union  as  slave  States,  for  they  were 
formed  out  of  territory  which  the  original  slave  States  of  the 
South  had  ceded  to  the  Government.  Nor  was  objection  made 
to  the  admission  of  Louisiana  as  a  slave  State  in  1812;  for  her 
position  identified  her  with  the  South,  and  the  imminence  of 
war  made  the  question  of  slavery  seem  insignificant.  But  when 
Missouri  applied  for  admission  as  a  slave  State,  in  1817,  the 
North  began  to  take  alarm.  It  was  now  seen  that  the  South 
meant  to  carry  slavery  into  the  whole  Louisiana  purchase; 
and  to  such  an  extension  of  slave  territory  jSTorthern  statesmen 
were  bitterly  opposed.  Missouri's  application  therefore 
aroused  fierce  discussion  in  Congress;  and,  finally,  occasioned 
the  passage  of  the  famous  Missouri  Compromise  Bill  in  1821. 
By  this  bill,  which  was  passed  largely  through  the  influence  of 
Henry  Clay,  slavery  was  allowed  in  Missouri,  but  was  forever 
prohibited  in  all  the  territory  west  of  that  State  and  north  of 
its  southern  border,  36°  30'.  Thus,  political  differences  were 
for  the  time  being  adjusted;  but  the  day  of  trouble  was  merely 
postponed.^  The  difficulty  was  too  great  to  be  settled  by  com- 
promise. Two  civilizations  were  face  to  face  within  the  borders 
of  the  same  nation;  one  of  them  must  eventually  give  way 
before  the  other.  So  slavery  had  assumed  the  place  in  the 
national  politics  that  of  right  belonged  to  it.  For  forty  years 
it  remained  the  one  vital  and  absorbing  question  before  the 
country. 

Less  threatening  to  the  nation's  welfare,  yet  of  grave  impor- 
tance, was  a  question  of  foreign  policy  that  now  arose ;  for  it 
was  in  Monroe's  second  administration  that  the  famous  Mon- 
roe Doctrine  was  first  formulated.  It  owed  its  origin  to  the 
war  for  independence  which  was  waged  by  the  Spanish  Colo- 
nies in  America  against  their  mother-country.     For,   seeing 

1  The  Annual  Report  of  the  American  Historical  Association  for  1893 
contains  an  excellent  essay  on  the  "  Historical  Significance  of  the  Missouri 
Compromise,"  which  shows  that  this  episode  was  the  beginning  of  the  long 
struggle  between  the  North  and  the  South. 


400  THE   UNITED   STATES  book  hi 

that  some  of  the  European  powers  were  inclined  to  help  Spain 
in  her  effort  to  subdue  her  rebellious  provinces  (p.  238), 
President  Monroe  deemed  it  best  that  the  United  States  should 
utter  a  warning  against  foreign  aggression.  Accordingly,  in 
his  message  to  Congress  of  December  2,  1823,^  he  says:  "We 
owe  it  to  candor  and  to  the  amicable  relations  existing  between 
the  United  States  and  those  powers  to  declare  that  we  should 
consider  any  attempt  on  their  part  to  extend  their  system  to  any 
portion  of  this  hemisphere  as  dangerous  to  our  peace  and  safety." 

This  utterance  is  strong  and  uncompromising,  but  its  true 
nature  has  been  greatly  misunderstood.  For  it  was  simply  an 
attempt  at  self-protection.  At  that  time  the  Republic  was 
young  and  struggling,  popular  government  was  an  experiment, 
and  Europe  was  still,  for  the  most  part,  under  despotic  rule. 
It  therefore  seemed  necessary  to  warn  the  powers  of  Europe 
that  the  United  States  would  not  allow  them  to  establish  any- 
where on  the  American  continent  despotic  governments,  which 
would  be  a  menace  to  free  democratic  institutions.  But  after 
the  Republic  became  a  great  and  powerful  nation,  it  no  longer 
needed  to  protect  itself  against  foreign  schemes  of  conquest  in 
the  western  hemisphere ;  and  the  Monroe  Doctrine  largely  lost 
its  significance. 

Monroe's  second  term  ended  in  1825.  John  Quincy  Adams, 
who  succeeded  him,  was  the  son  of  John  Adams,  the  second 
President  of  the  United  States,  and,  like  his  father,  he  was 
not  reelected.  Honest,  fearless,  and  independent,  he  yet 
lacked  the  qualities  that  bring  popularity.  His  abilities  and 
his  eminent  diplomatic  services  to  his  country  had  made  him 
distinguished;  but  so  little  enthusiasm  did  he  awaken  among 
the  people  that  Jackson,  his  leading  opponent  in  the  presi- 
dential election  of  1824,  commanded  a  larger  number  of  votes 
in  the  electoral  college.  Neither  of  them,  however,  had  a 
majority,  and  the  House  of  Representatives  was  tlierefore 
called  upon  to  decide  the  election,  as  provided  by  the  Twelfth 
amendment  to  the  Constitution.  Largely  through  Henry 
Clay's  influence  the  House  elected  Adams.  As  Jackson  was 
the  choice  of  the  people  at  large,  this  action  of  the  House  was 
denounced  by  some  fierce  partisans  as  unconstitutional.  But 
unquestionably  the  House  acted  strictly  within  its  rights.  If 
^  "  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents,"  II.  218. 


CHAP.  Ill         MADISON,   MONROE,  AND   J.  Q.  ADAMS  401 

it  is  to  decide  such  cases  at  all,  its  decision  must  be  free  and 
not  perfunctory.  And  this  view  of  the  matter  prevailed 
throughout  the  country,  which  accepted  the  judgment  of  the 
House  quietly  and  without  disturbance. 

The  most  important  question  that  came  up  during  Adams's 
administration  was  that  of  State  Sovereignty.  It  was  not  the 
negroes,  however,  but  the  Indians  who  now  gave  this  issue 
prominence.  Growing  covetous  of  the  tracts  occupied  by  the 
Creeks  and  the  Cherokees,  Georgia  tried  to  eject  them,  though 
they  held  these  lands  under  treaty  with  the  United  States. 
These  tribes  were  partially  civilized,  and  were  tilling  their 
lands  in  peace  and  contentment;  but,  instead  of  protecting 
them,  the  national  Government  allowed  Georgia  to  have  its 
way  in  the  matter,  though  it  first  made  a  vain  effort  to  bribe 
the  Indians  to  go.  During  Jackson's  administration  the 
Indians  were  compelled  to  abandon  their  lands  and  move 
westward;  and  in  a  matter  where  the  honor  of  the  country 
was  at  stake,  an  individual  State  was  suffered  to  act  in  defiance 
of  a  national  agreement. 

The  question  of  State  sovereignty  was  involved  also  in  the 
tariff  law  of  1828,  by  which  the  duties  upon  exports  were  still 
further  increased.  For,  by  passing  this  law.  Congress  added 
to  the  discontent  of  the  Southern  planters  and  raised  discus- 
sions as  to  the  legitimate  extent  of  its  own  authority.  Already 
was  it  becoming  plain  that,  as  the  central  Government  assumed 
new  powers,  its  critics  would  challenge  its  right  to  exercise 
those  powers,  and  that  thus  two  great  political  parties  would 
always  stand  arrayed  against  each  other.  And  as  if  to  illus- 
trate this  fundamental  political  truth,  the  Era  of  Good  Feeling 
now  came  to  an  end,  and  the  single  party  that  had  existed 
since  the  collapse  of  the  Federalists  was  divided  into  two. 
One  of  these  two  was  the  legitimate  successor  of  the  party 
which  had  always  embraced  the  ideas  of  the  Anti-Federalists, 
and  had  been  in  power  for  twenty  years.  Its  members  called 
themselves  Democrats,  —  a  name  which  they  have  ever  since 
retained,  — and,  as  if  to  justify  the  title,  they  selected  as  their 
candidate  for  the  presidency  that  thoroughgoing  man  of  the 
people,  Andrew  Jackson.  For  Vice-President  they  nominated 
John  C.  Calhoun.  The  other  party,  which  took  the  name  of 
National  Republicans,  inherited  the  principles  of  the  early 
2d 


402  THE   UNITED   STATES  book  hi 

Federalists;  but  it  was  largely  a  product  of  the  material  growth 
and  the  expanding  powers  of  the  nation.  Its  members  believed 
that,  in  order  to  develop  the  vast  resources  of  the  country  and 
to  meet  new  commercial  and  agricultural  conditions,  the  powers 
of  the  central  Government  should  be  amplified  and  its  field 
of  activity  enlarged.  A  high  tariff  and  extensive  internal 
improvements  were  the  cardinal  points  of  its  creed.  But 
while  these  ideas  were  popular  in  the  North,  they  were  too 
new  to  find  general  acceptance;  and,  in  giving  Adams  a  second 
nomination,  the  National  Republican  party  insured  its  own 
defeat.  For  Adams  had  as  little  hold  as  ever  upon  the  com- 
mon people,  while  Jackson  had  an  enthusiastic  following  all 
over  the  country.  Accordingly,  the  presidential  contest  was 
too  one-sided  to  be  exciting,  Adams  and  Rush  —  the  National 
Republican  candidate  for  Vice-President  —  obtaining  but  83 
electoral  votes,  against  178  cast  for  their  opponents. 

But,  though  deprived  of  a  second  presidential  term,  Adams 
did  not  retire  to  private  life.  On  the  contrary,  the  most 
creditable  portion  of  his  public  career  was  still  before  him; 
for  he  represented  Massachusetts  in  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives for  twenty  years,  and  fearlessly  advocated  the  right  of 
petition  against  the  intolerance,  the  threats,  and  the  arrogance 
of  his  political  opponents.  Believing  that  any  citizens  in  the 
land  had  an  absolute  and  sacred  right  to  petition  Congress 
upon  whatsoever  subject  they  pleased,  he  presented  to  the 
House  numerous  petitions  upon  the  burning  question  of 
slavery.  Naturally,  this  course  aroused  the  Southern  mem- 
bers of  Congress  to  furious  resentment,  but  in  the  end  they 
learned  to  respect  the  lofty  courage,  the  caustic  speech,  and 
the  uncompromising  character  of  the  invincible  debater;  and 
when  Adams  was  suddenly  stricken  with  paralysis  in  the 
Representative  chamber,  in  1848,  the  South  mourned  equally 
with  the  North  over  the  loss  of  the  grand  and  incorruptible 
statesman.  His  services  in  behalf  of  free  speech  entitle  him 
to  a  high  rank  among  the  patriots  of  the  country;  and  no 
American  ever  gave  a  more  splendid  example  of  unswerving 
devotion  to  public  duty. 


CHAPTER   IV 

THE   ADMINISTRATIONS    OF   JACKSON   AND   VAN    BUREN 

The  two  administrations  of  Jackson  were  a  period  of  great 
national  importance.  The  country  gained  rapidly  in,  wealth 
and  population,  and  the  public  debt  was  entirely  cleared  in 
1835.  The  States  of  Arkansas  and  Michigan  were  admitted 
to  the  Union.  Steam  was  successfully  applied  to  locomotion, 
and  the  railway  system  was  rapidly  developed.  Industry  was 
promoted  by  other  important  inventions,  conspicuous  among 
which  were  the  reaping  machine  and  the  screw  propeller. 

But  the  political  happenings  of  the  period  were  of  greater 
consequence  than  its  material  prosperity.  From  the  first  Jack- 
son showed  himself  a  vigorous  executive,  and,  right  or  wrong, 
acted  up  to  his  convictions.  He  promptly  discharged  about 
seven  hundred  office-holders,  because  they  were  not  of  his 
party,  and  thereby  inaugurated  the  vicious  spoils  system;^ 
and  he  finally  attacked  the  National  Bank,  which  he  accused 
of  corruption  and  denounced  as  a  menace  to  the  free  institu- 
tions of  the  country.  His  charges  were  not  well  founded. 
The  bank  had  done  good  service  in  providing  the  country  with 
a  sound  and  uniform  currency  and  in  promoting  commercial 
enterprise.  So  Congress  renewed  its  charter  in  1832.  But 
Jackson  vetoed  the  measure,  and  as  Congress  could  not  pass  it 
over  the  veto,  the  bank  had  to  close  its  affairs  when  its  charter 
expired,  in  1837. 

In  spite  of  the  unfairness  of  Jackson's  accusations,  his  hos- 
tility toward  the  bank  was  not  without  justification.  Such  an 
institution  may  easily  become  the  seat  of  corrupt  political 
intrigue,    and  exert  an  undue  influence  upon   elections  and 

1  .Jefferson  did  the  same  thing,  hut  his  action  was  not  imitated  by  the 
Presidents  who  followed  him,  and  it  was  less  important  than  Jackson's  action 
because  there  were  comparatively  few  United  States  offices  in  his  day, 

403 


404  THE   UNITED   STATES  book  hi 

other  national  affairs.  At  any  rate,  Jackson's  conduct  met 
with  the  approval  of  the  country,  for  he  was  renominated  by 
the  Democrats  in  1832  and  triumpliantly  reelected  over  his 
rival,  Henry  Clay,  who  was  the  candidate  of  the  National 
Republicans.  In  the  electoral  college  he  received  all  but  49 
out  of  288  votes. 

With  this  popular  verdict  in  his  favor  Jackson  did  not  allow 
his  warfare  on  the  bank  to  cease.  He  gave  orders  that  the 
government  revenues  should  be  deposited  in  the  State  banks 
instead  of  in  the  National  Bank,  as  had  been  the  custom ;  and 
when  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  refused  to  carry  out  this 
policy,  Jackson  removed  him  and  appointed  a  more  pliable 
oflRcial  in  his  place.  For  this  action  he  was  formally  censured 
by  the  Senate,  and  condemned  by  his  political  opponents  gen- 
erally; but  the  people  admired  the  independence  he  had  shown, 
and  his  friends  eventually  succeeded  in  getting  the  Senate  to 
expunge  its  vote  of  censure. 

Still  greater  approval  did  Jackson  win  by  his  attitude  toward 
Nullification.  Tlie  tariff  duties,  which  had  been  slightly  raised 
under  Adams  (p.  401),  were  still  further  increased  by  Congress 
in  1832.  This  angered  the  South,  which  now  began  to  take  an 
extreme  position  in  favor  of  State  rights,  and  against  the 
supremacy  of  the  national  Government.  Its  statesmen 
appealed  to  the  Constitution  to  support  their  views,  and  pre- 
sented their  case  with  cogency  and  skill.  Robert  Hayne  of 
South  Carolina  became  one  of  their  foremost  spokesmen,  and 
in  the  United  States  Senate  he  argued  with  great  power  that, 
by  the  very  terms  of  the  Constitution,  the  States  kept  their 
sovereignty  and  could  refuse  to  obey  any  act  of  Congress  which 
they  considered  oppressive.  But  Daniel  Webster  of  Massa- 
chusetts showed  conclusively  that  this  interpretation  of  the 
Constitution  would  forever  prevent  the  United  States  from 
becoming  a  nation. 

The  South  was  silenced  for  the  time  being,  but  it  was  not 
convinced.  South  Carolina  in  particular  was  rebellious  about 
the  tariff  laws,  and  threatened  to  resist  their  execution.  She 
even  went  so  far  as  to  pass  an  ordinance  declaring  them  null. 
Hence  the  term  "nullification."  But  she  gave  way  when  she 
found  that  Jackson  would  use  the  entire  military  strength  of 
the  country  to  compel  her  to  obedience.     Moreover,  the  dis- 


CHAP.  IV  JACKSON   AND   VAN   BUREN  405 

satisfaction  of  the  Southern  States  was  largely  removed  by  the 
modification  of  the  tariff  laws.  Congress  saw  with  regret  the 
seditious  tendencies  manifested  in  South  Carolina.  So,  in 
1833,  it  passed  the  "Compromise  Tariff,"  by  which  the  duties 
were  lessened  each  year  until  1842.  After  the  passage  of  this 
measure  the  tariff  question  did  not  again  become  a  prominent 
political  issue  until  after  the  Civil  War. 

By  his  strong  stand  for  the  Union  Jackson  undoubtedly 
helped  his  party.  The  National  Kepublicans,  who  now  took 
the  name  of  Whigs,  did  not  even  make  nominations  for  the 
national  elections  in  1836.  Hence,  the  Democratic  candidates, 
Martin  Van  Buren  of  Xew  York  and  Richard  M.  Johnson  of 
Kentucky,  won  an  easy  victory,  though  General  Harrison, 
Daniel  Webster,  Hugh  L.  White,  and  W.  P.  Magnum  each 
received  votes  in  tlie  Electoral  College.  Van  Buren  was  Secre- 
tary of  State  in  Jackson's  first  administration  and  Vice-Presi- 
dent during  his  second  term.  Before  that  he  had  been  United 
States  Senator  and  Governor  of  New  York.  He  was  an  able 
and  thoroughly  upright  man,  but  his  reelection  was  made 
impossible,  for  his  administration  came  at  an  unfortunate 
period  and  suffered  from  disastrous  occurrences  for  which  he 
was  not  responsible.  At  the  time  when  he  succeeded  to  office 
the  nation  had  been  gaining  rapidly  in  wealth.  Revenue 
exceeded  expenditure,  and  the  treasury  had  accumulated  a 
surplus  of  forty  million  dollars.  This  sum  was,  by  act  of 
Congress,  distributed  among  the  States.  As  a  result,  money 
became  plentiful;  banks  were  multiplied;  speculation  was 
widespread.  The  new  banks  flooded  the  country  with  worth- 
less paper  money,  Avhich  for  a  time  was  universally  received. 
But  even  in  Jackson's  time  the  currency  had  become  so  inflated 
that  Jackson  issued  a  circular  forbidding  the  United  States 
land  offices  to  accept  anything  but  specie  in  payment  for  gov- 
ernment land.  This  action  was  wise  and  patriotic,  and  it  pro- 
tected the  Government;  but  it  helped  to  bring  on  a  financial 
crisis.  In  Van  Buren' s  administration  much  of  the  paper 
money  of  the  country  was  found  to  be  irredeemable,  and  specie 
disappeared  from  circulation.  The  result  was  a  commercial 
panic,  which  caused  stringency  in  the  money  market  and 
numerous  failures. 

The  country  gradually  recovered  from  its  financial  embar- 


406  THE   UNITED   STATES  book  hi 

rassments ;  but,  to  prevent  them  from  recurring,  Congress,  at 
the  President's  suggestion,  adopted  the  subtreasury  system. 
Heretofore  the  government  moneys  had  been  deposited  in  the 
National  Bank  or  in  the  State  banks.  By  the  new  system 
they  were  placed,  as  fast  as  they  were  collected,  in  the  national 
treasury  or  in  subtreasuries  established  in  the  leading  cities 
of  the  country.  Thus  the  vast  funds  of  the  Government  could 
no  longer  be  used  to  promote  business  enterprise  and  commer- 
cial activity;  yet  the  change  was  undoubtedly  for  the  country's 
good.  For  the  old  system,  though  it  had  performed  a  use,  was 
a  dangerous  one.  It  led  to  abuses  while  it  lasted;  it  would 
have  resulted  in  still  graver  ones  as  the  government  income 
grew  and  the  task  of  dividing  it  fairly  among  the  banks  became 
increasingly  difficult.  Nor  does  private  capital  now  need  any 
increase  from  government  funds.  For  the  wealth  of  the  coun- 
try is  so  great  that  the  rates  of  interest  have  become  low,  and 
profitable  investments  are  not  always  easily  found. 

Van  Buren  was  renominated  by  his  party  in  1840;  but  Gen- 
eral Harrison,  the  Whig  candidate,  was  widely  popular  on 
account  of  his  brilliant  military  career,  and  swept  the  country. 


CHAPTEK  V 

THE    ADMINISTRATIONS    OF    HARRISON    AND    TYLER,    POLK,    AND 

TAYLOR    AND    FILLMORE 

President  Harrison  had  shown  some  administrative  ability 
as  Governor  of  Indian  Territory.  Whether  he  woukl  have 
proved  an  efficient  executive  of  the  nation  cannot  be  deter- 
mined, for  he  died  only  a  month  after  his  inauguration.  John 
Tyler,  the  Vice-President,  succeeded  him,  and  proved  a  disap- 
pointmelit  to  the  Whig  party.  He  had  been  accounted  a  Whig, 
because  he  was  opposed  to  nullification.  But  he  did  not  ap- 
prove of  a  national  bank ;  and  when  the  Whigs,  who  had  a 
majority  in  Congress,  voted  to  recharter  the  Bank,  Tyler  vetoed 
the  measure.  The  Whigs  were  not  able  to  pass  it  over  the  veto 
and  fiercely  accused  the  President  of  disloyalty  to  his  party. 

In  the  course  of  Tyler's  administration  the  Independent 
Treasury  Bill  was  repealed ;  a  bankrupt  law  was  passed ;  the 
northeast  boundary  of  the  United  States  was  settled  on  its 
present  basis  by  Mr.  Webster,  who  as  Secretary  of  State  very 
ably  represented  the  country's  interests ;  and  the  Mormons, 
after  vain  efforts  to  establish  themselves  in  Missouri  and 
Illinois,  settled  near  the  Great  Salt  Lake  and  founded  the 
Territory  of  Utah. 

But  the  absorbing  question  before  the  country  was  the  annex- 
ation of  Texas.  It  was  not  a  new  question  in  Tyler's  adminis- 
tration. Texas  won  her  independence  from  Mexico  in  1836 
and  at  once  applied  for  admission  to  the  Union.  But  Van 
Buren,  who  feared  a  war  with  Mexico,  opposed  the  proposi- 
tion, and  it  was  for  the  time  being  abandoned.  In  the  last 
year  of  Tyler's  administration,  however,  the  question  came  up 
again.  The  Democrats  were  strongly  in  favor  of  annexation, 
and  the  Whigs  opposed  it.     The  whole  country  was  excited 

407 


408  THE   UNITED   STATES  book  hi 

over  the  situation,  and  annexation  became  the  vital  question 
in  the  presidential  campaign  of  1844. 

If  Texas  were  admitted,  she  would  be  admitted  as  a  slave 
State,  and  thus  slavery  was  once  more  serving  to  divide  the 
North  and  the  South.  Arkansas  had  been  admitted  as  a  slave 
State  in  1836,  and  Michigan  as  a  free  State  in  1837.  The 
States  were  now  half  slave  and  half  free ;  but  the  latter  were 
gaining  rapidly  on  the  former  in  population.  Therefore,  un- 
less new  slave  States  should  be  added  to  the  Union,  the  South- 
ern members  of  Congress  would  be  in  a  hopeless  minority. 
But  Northern  Congressmen  were  determined  that  they  should 
be  in  a  minority,  as  they  viewed  the  slave  power  with  increas- 
ing dread.  They  were  therefore  bitterly  opposed  to  the  acqui- 
sition of  any  new  territory  which  would  allow  slavery  to  grow 
and  expand.  As  men  of  this  political  type  were  for  the  most 
part  Whigs,  the  Whig  party  became  largely  identified  with 
their  views.  All  the  voters  in  the  North  who  were  opposed  to 
the  spread  of  slavery  identified  themselves  with  the  Whig 
party  ;  while  the  men  of  the  South  were  almost  uniformly 
Democrats.  But  the  North  was  not  united,  while  the  South 
was.  So  the  Democrats  gained  a  victory  in  1844  by  carrying 
the  State  of  New  York,  and  elected  their  candidates,  James 
Polk  of  Tennessee  and  George  M.  Dallas  of  Pennsylvania. 
The  Whig  candidate  was  Henry  Clay,  and  his  defeat  was  a 
bitter  disappointment  to  him.  He  was  now  becoming  an  old 
man,  and  he  could  hardly  hope  for  another  presidential  nomi- 
nation. 

The  new  President  did  not  prove  a  strong  or  able  head  of 
the  nation.  He  simply  carried  out  the  wishes  of  his  party,  as 
he  had  been  expected  to  do.  A  consistent  Democrat,  a  man 
of  dignified  and  estimable  character,  he  lacked  vigorous  self- 
assertion,  and  at  no  time  did  he  think  of  opposing  the  slave 
power. 

So  the  scheme  of  annexation  was  easily  carried  through 
under  Polk's  administration.  Congress  did  not  even  wait  for 
his  inauguration  before  attacking  the  question.  On  March  1, 
1845,  it  was  voted  to  admit  Texas  into  the  Union.  President 
Tyler  immediately  approved  the  measure ;  the  legislature  of 
Texas  ratified  it  in  July,  1845 ;  and  Texas  became  one  of  the 
United  States. 


CHAP.  V  HARRISON   TO   FILLMORE  409 


But  the  war  with  Mexico  wliich  Van  Buren  had  feared  soon 
followed.  Mexico  could  not  reasonably  resent  the  adoption  of 
Texas  into  the  Union,  seeing  that  Texas  had  become  an  inde- 
pendent State;  but  the  southern  boundary  of  Texas  was  a 
matter  of  dispute.  Mexico  and  Texas  both  claimed  the  terri- 
tory between  the  rivers  Nueces  and  Rio  Grande.  The  United 
States  adopted  the  Texan  view  of  the  matter  and  went  to  war 
over  it,  though  not  without  first  trying  to  settle  the  difficulty 
by  arbitration. 

The  war  with  Mexico  was  not  popular  in  the  North,  and 
many  Northern  statesmen  believed  it  to  be  utterly  unjustifia- 
ble. They  looked  upon  it  as  a  war  of  aggression,  needlessly 
brought  upon  the  country  in  order  to  win  territory  for  slavery. 
But  however  discreditable  it  was  to  the  national  honor,  it  was 
highly  creditable  to  American  valor.  The  United  States  forces 
sent  into  Mexico  were  ridiculously  small,  but  they  proved  in- 
vincible. They  defeated  armies  that  far  outnumbered  them, 
and  Mexico  got  nothing  but  humiliation  from  the  conflict. 

Hostilities  began  in  the  spring  of  1845,  though  war  was  not 
formally  declared  until  a  year  later.  In  the  summer  of  1846 
the  United  States  armies  entered  Mexico.  Before  the  end  of 
September  in  the  following  year  the  country  was  completely 
conquered,  and  meanwhile  the  power  of  Mexico  had  been 
overthrown  in  New  Mexico  and  California.  So  when  peace 
was  made  in  the  winter  of  1847-48,  not  only  was  the  Rio 
Grande  established  as  the  southern  boundary  of  Texas,  in- 
stead of  the  Nueces,  but  Mexico  was  obliged  to  give  up  New 
Mexico  and  California  for  the  sum  of  $15,000,000.  Debts  of 
$3,000,000  which  she  owed  to  American  citizens  were  also  to 
be  discharged  by  the  United  States. 

But  hardly  had  the  new  tract  been  acquired,  before  it  became 
a  bone  of  contention  between  the  North  and  the  South.  The 
North  was  determined  that  the  Mexico  purchase  should  be 
free  soil ;  the  South  was  equally  determined  that  it  should  be 
slave  territory.  In  1846  David  Wilmot  of  Pennsylvania  had 
proposed  in  Congress  that  money  should  be  appropriated  to 
buy  the  proposed  acquisition  from  Mexico,  only  on  condition 
that  slavery  should  be  excluded  from  it.  This  proposition, 
called  the  Wilmot  Proviso,  failed  to  pass  through  Congress ; 
but  it  formed  the  political  creed  of  the  new  Free-Soil  party 


410  THE   UNITED   STATES  book  in 

which  came  into  existence  in  1848.  The  Democrats  and  Whigs 
were  unwilling  to  oppose  the  spread  of  slavery  through  fear 
of  offending  their  Southern  supporters.  So  a  new  party  was 
formed  by  those  who  believed  in  the  Wilmot  Proviso,  and  who 
were  convinced  that  the  slave  power  was  threatening  the  very 
existence  of  the  nation. 

The  Free-Soilers  nominated  ex-President  Van  Buren  and 
Charles  Francis  Adams  of  Massachusetts  in  the  presidential 
campaign  of  1848 ;  and  in  their  platform  they  declared  them- 
selves against  allowing  slavery  in  the  new  territory.  The 
Democrats  and  the  Whigs  avoided  this  issue.  While  the  Free- 
Soil  vote  was  not  large,  it  turned  the  scale  in  New  York ;  and 
by  causing  the  vote  of  that  State  to  be  given  to  the  Whigs  it 
secured  the  election  of  the  Whig  candidates,  Taylor  and  Fill- 
more. They  received  163  votes  in  the  Electoral  College,  against 
127  that  were  given  for  Cass  and  Butler,  the  candidates  of  the 
Democratic  party. 

Zachary  Taylor  was  born  in  Virginia  in  1784.  He  served 
in  the  War  of  1812,  and  also  in  the  Black  Hawk  and  Seminole 
wars ;  and  in  the  war  with  Mexico  he  played  a  conspicuous 
part  and  won  the  admiration  of  the  whole  country.  When 
he  was  first  mentioned  as  a  presidential  candidate,  he  declared 
that  he  had  no  taste  for  politics  and  forbade  the  use  of  his 
name.  But  after  a  time  he  found  himself  thoroughly  pos- 
sessed by  presidential  ambition.  The  office  which  he  once 
thought  unattractive  he  now  coveted ;  and  he  gladly  accepted 
the  nomination  of  the  Whigs  in  1848.  Indeed,  he  even  claimed 
it  as  a  right.  But  his  death,  only  about  a  year  after  he  was  in- 
augurated, prevented  him  from  showing  conspicuously  whether 
he  had  the  abilities  of  a  statesman. 

Millard  Fillmore,  who  as  Vice-President  succeeded  him,  was 
a  native  of  New  York  and  was  born  in  1800.  Made  President 
by  accident,  he  showed  no  vigorous  qualities  of  mind  or  char- 
acter during  his  term  of  office. 

President  Taylor's  career  was  cut  short  at  a  very  critical 
time.  The  national  affairs  were  in  confusion  because  Con- 
gress could  not  decide  whether  or  not  to  allow  slavery  in  the 
Territories.  California  was  rapidly  becoming  populated,  owing 
to  the  discovery  of  gold  in  its  soil  in  1849.  But  its  people, 
largely  composed  of  ruffians  and  adventurers,  and  greatly  need- 


CHAP.  V  HARRISON   TO   FILLMORE  411 

ing  a  government  to  restrain  lawlessness,  could  get  little  help 
from  the  United  States.  For  no  stable  government  could  be 
established  till  it  was  known  whether  the  Territory  was  to  be 
slave  or  free.  Moreover,  the  feeling  between  the  North  and  the 
South  was  continually  becoming  more  heated.  The  South  was 
offended  by  the  denunciations  of  the  Abolitionists  against 
slavery  and  by  the  difficulty  the  slave-owners  experienced 
in  getting  back  runaways  from  the  Northern  States;  while 
the  North  objected  to  the  sale  of  slaves  in  the  District  of 
Columbia,  resented  the  aggressive  and  irritating  tone  of  South- 
ern statesmen,  and  pronounced  their  demands  extravagant  and 
dangerous  to  the  permanence  of  the  Union.  Texas  added  to 
the  confusion  by  claiming  a  part  of  New  Mexico  and  threaten- 
ing to  take  it  by  armed  force. 

Once  more  the  difficulties  created  by  slavery  were  settled 
by  compromise ;  and  once  more  Henry  Clay  was  the  means  of 
bringing  about  an  agreement.  He  had  arranged  the  Missouri 
Compromise  in  1820  and  the  Compromise  Tariff  in  1833 ;  and 
it  was  a  committee  of  which  he  was  chairman  that  framed 
the  Omnibus  Bill  of  1850.  By  this  compromise  measure  the 
troubles  between  North  and  South  were  for  a  time  quieted, 
though  the  chief  causes  for  irritation  remained  untouched. 
The  Omnibus  Bill  embraced  five  distinct  acts :  — 

I.  That  California  should  be  admitted  as  a  free  State. 

II.  That  Texas  should  receive  f  10,000,000  and  in  considera- 
tion of  that  sum  should  give  up  her  claims  to  a  portion  of  New 
Mexico. 

III.  That  the  rest  of  the  Mexican  purchase,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  California,  should  be  divided  into  the  Territories  of 
Utah  and  New  Mexico,  and  that  the  question  whether  they 
should  be  slave  or  free  should  be  left  unsettled. 

IV.  That  slaves  should  still  be  held  in  the  District  of 
Columbia,  but  not  bought  or  sold. 

V.  That  the  Northern  States  should  be  required  to  surrender 
all  fugitive  slaves  that  took  refuge  in  them. 

These  compromise  measures  were  carried  through  Congress 
largely  through  the  support  of  Daniel  Webster.  His  speech 
in  favor  of  them,  delivered  on  March  7,  1850,  created  a  power- 
ful conciliatory  influence.  Mr.  Webster  believed  that  it  was 
needless  to  exclude  slavery  from  the  Territories  by  law,  for 


412  THE   UNITED   STATES  book  hi 

their  barren  soil  offered  no  remuneration  to  slave  labor.  He 
held  that  the  North  was  bound  by  the  Constitution  to  deliver 
up  fugitive  slaves,  and  that  it  ought  not  to  evade  its  responsi- 
bility. The  agitation  created  by  the  Abolitionists  he  pronounced 
mischievous,  and  he  deprecated  all  acrimonious  controversy 
between  the  North  and  the  South.  Thus  powerfully  supported, 
the  Omnibus  Bill  proved  too  strong  to  be  defeated.  Its  live 
acts  were  separately  considered  and  passed  by  Congress,  and 
the  difficulties  that  had  been  disturbing  the  nation  were  tem- 
porarily adjusted.  But  the  cause  of  the  disturbance  had  not 
been  removed.  The  excited  feelings  of  the  North  and  the  South 
were  not  quieted  by  compromise.  Loudly  and  fiercely  did  the 
people  of  the  free  States  denounce  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law, 
which  indeed  many  pronounced  iniquitous  and  refused  to  obey. 
And  equally  angry  and  bitter  were  the  criticisms  of  the  South 
upon  the  conduct  of  the  Abolitionists.  To  all  who  understood 
the  political  situation  it  was  apparent  that  Mr.  Webster's  argu- 
ments were  specious  and  did  not  touch  the  real  points  at  issue. 
The  North  and  the  South  were  trying  to  perpetuate  two  antag- 
onistic types  of  civilization  under  the  same  Constitution ;  but 
such  an  experiment  in  government  was  bound  to  fail.  It  only 
invited  dissension.  Compromise  could  postpone  the  day  of 
conflict,  but  the  day  of  conflict  was  sure  to  come.  This  Mr. 
Webster  failed  to  recognize  in  his  famous  seventh  of  March 
speech.  Ignoring  the  deepest  and  gravest  moral  issues  of  the 
controversy,  he  did  not  rise  to  the  plane  of  the  highest  states- 
manship. Ambition  blinded  his  moral  vision.  But  even  while 
he  was  advocating  an  impossible  conciliation,  a  greater  mind 
than  his  was  clearly  discerning  the  signs  of  the  times.  Abra- 
ham Lincoln  of  Illinois  had  already  begun  to  see  that  a  house 
divided  against  itself  could  not  stand,  and  that  the  country  must 
become  all  slave  or  all  free.^ 

President  Taylor  died  on  July  9, 1850.  Calhoun,  the  ardent 
champion  of  State  Rights,  passed  away  in  the  March  preced- 
ing ;  and  Webster  and  Clay  in  1852.  But  the  death  of  these 
eminent  men  did  not  apparently  affect  the  course  of  public 
events.  They  had  played  great  and  brilliant  parts  in  the 
nation's  history,  but  individuals  were  beginning  to  count  as 

1  It  was  in  his  debates  with  Douglas  iu  1858  that  Lincoln  clearly  and  em- 
phatically enunciated  this  idea. 


CHAP.  V  HARRISON   TO   FILLMORE  413 


little  in  those  stirring  and  tremendous  times.  The  country 
was  drifting  toward  civil  war,  and  no  one  could  stay  its  course. 
Yet  able  men  appeared  to  fill  the  places  of  the  departed 
leaders.  Charles  Sumner  of  Massachusetts  and  Stephen 
Douglas  of  Illinois  became  conspicuous  in  the  debates  of 
Congress ;  while  the  South  found  sturdy  leaders  in  Alexander 
Stephens  of  Georgia  and  Jefferson  Davis  of  Mississippi. 

In  1852,  as  in  1848,  there  were  three  presidential  candidf.tes. 
The  Democrats  nominated  Franklin  Pierce  of  New  Hamp- 
shire, and  William  li.  King  of  Alabama,  for  President  and 
Vice-President.  The  Whigs  nominated  General  Winfield 
Scott,  and  William  A.  Graham  of  North  Carolina.  The  Pree- 
Soilers  again  put  candidates  in  the  field,  nominating  John  P. 
Hale  of  New  Hampshire  and  George  W.  Julian  of  Indiana; 
but  these  candidates  received  very  few  votes  in  the  election, 
and,  like  the  Free-Soil  nominees  in  1848,  they  had  no  votes 
whatever  in  the  Electoral  College.  The  contest,  therefore, 
was  really  between  the  Whigs  and  the  Democrats ;  but  the  Whig 
party  was  very  much  weakened  by  the  disaffection  of  its  mem- 
bers. For  many  Southern  Whigs  now  joined  the  Democrats, 
because  of  the  growing  importance  of  the  slavery  question ; 
and  many  Northern  Whigs  refused  to  support  their  party, 
because  it  had  indorsed  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law.  Under  these 
conditions,  the  Democrats  naturally  had  things  very  much 
their  own  way,  their  candidates  receiving  254  electoral  votes 
against  42  that  were  cast  for  Scott  and  Graham. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE    ADMINISTRATIONS    OF    PIERCE    AND    BUCHANAN 

The  new  President  was  not  the  man  to  lead  the  country 
when  a  crisis  was  approaching.  A  fascinating  personality  was 
his  most  notable  characteristic,  and  to  it  he  was  largely  indebted 
for  his  successful  career.  Though  a  Northern  man,  he  defended 
slavery ;  and  in  his  inaugural  address  he  made  it  plain  that  the 
South  would  receive  more  support  than  the  North  from  his 
administration.  Thus  the  slave  power  gathered  strength  ;  the 
division  between  North  and  South  grew  wider ;  the  final  appeal 
to  arms  became  more  difficult  to  avoid. 

Other  matters  besides  those  connected  Avith  the  slave  ques- 
tion did,  it  is  true,  assume  prominence  at  this  period.  Of  these 
the  most  important  was  that  of  naturalization.  The  United 
States  claimed  that  foreigners  who  became  her  citizens  by  pro- 
cess of  naturalization  were  no  longer  subject  to  the  laws  of 
the  country  of  their  birth.  This  claim  European  nations  were 
slow  to  admit ;  it  was  not  until  1853  that  the  question  was 
decided.  In  that  year  the  Austrians  attempted  to  carry  off  an 
American  named  Martin  Kostza,  who  was  a  native  of  Austria 
and  who  had  been  engaged  in  an  insurrection  against  the  Aus- 
trian Government.  He  was  seized  in  Asia  Minor  and  put  on 
board  an  Austrian  frigate.  But  the  commander  of  an  Ameri- 
can man-of-war  threatened  to  fire  upon  the  Austrian  vessel 
unless  Kostza  were  given  up.  Kostza  was  accordingly  sur- 
rendered, and  the  United  States  Government,  instead  of  heed- 
ing Austria's  protest,  justified  its  officer  and  rewarded  him  with 
a  medal. 

In  the  following  year  the  United  States  gained  further  re- 
spect among  the  nations  of  the  world  by  establishing  diplo- 
matic and  commercial  relations  with  Japan.  This  country 
had   looked   with  true    Oriental  disdain   upon   other   nations 

414 


CHAP.  VI  PIERCE  AND   BUCHANAN  415 

and  had  held  aloof  from  all  intercourse  with  thein.  But  Com- 
modore M.  C.  Perry,  a  brother  of  the  Captain  Perry  who  dis- 
tinguished himself  at  the  battle  of  Lake  Erie,  succeeded  in 
overcoming  this  aversion  to  foreigners.  He  was  sent  to  Japan 
with  a  naval  squadron ;  and  by  his  resolution,  tact,  and  diplo- 
matic skill,  he  persuaded  the  Japanese  to  form  a  treaty  with 
the  United  States.  Thus  the  Republic  was  steadily  gaining  in 
power.  Her  population  had  been  growing  rapidly  all  through 
the  century,  and  had  now  reached  a  total  of  twenty -five  millions. 
Railways  were  being  extended  in  every  direction.  The  great 
streams  of  the  country  were  being  bridged.  Factories  were 
becoming  numerous  under  the  protective  system.  The  volume 
of  business  was  constantly  increasing.  The  Crystal  Palace 
Exhibition  at  New  York  City,  in  1853,  gave  many  evidences 
of  the  country's  astonishing  growth. 

But  outward  prosperity  could  not  conceal  the  nation's  trouble. 
During  President  Pierce's  administration  slavery  caused  more 
disturbance  and  angry  feeling  than  ever.  In  1854  Stephen 
Douglas  of  Illinois  proposed  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill,  which 
violated  the  Missouri  Compromise  of  1820.  But  it  was  claimed 
that  the  Omnibus  Bill  set  aside  all  earlier  agreements,  and  that 
the  settlers  of  Nebraska  and  Kansas  should  be  allowed  to  decide 
whether  they  would  have  slavery  or  not.  And  this  view  pre- 
vailed in  Congress.  The  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill  was  passed ; 
new  seeds  of  dissension  between  North  and  South  were  sown. 

Nor  were  these  seeds  long  in  bearing  fruit.  Nebraska  was 
too  far  to  the  North  to  attract  Southern  settlers ;  but  Kansas 
immediately  became  a  bloody  battle-ground.  On  the  vast 
stretches  of  this  fertile  Territory  the  North  and  South  fought 
their  preliminary  skirmish,  and  the  North  won  its  earliest  vic- 
tory. Northern  immigrants  hastened  into  Kansas,  rifle  in  hand. 
Blocked  by  the  people  of  western  Missouri,  they  found  a  pas- 
sage through  Iowa,  and  forced  their  way  through  all  obstacles. 
They  carried  their  families  with  them.  They  went  to  establish 
homes  and  free  institutions,  for  which  they  were  ready  to  fight 
and  die.  Equally  active  was  the  South  in  occupying  the  cov- 
eted Territory.  But  the  Southern  planters  did  not  like  to  carry 
their  slaves  into  Kansas  through  fear  of  ultimately  losing  them. 
So  the  Southern  immigrants  were  largely  young  men  who  did 
not  take  families  with  them,  and  whose  object  was  to  hold  the 


416  THE   UNITED   STATES  book  hi 

ground  for  the  slave  power  against  ISTortliern  invasion.  But 
this  they  were  not  able  to  do.  The  Northern  settlers  outnum- 
bered them,  and,  after  many  sharp  struggles,  established  a 
government  forbidding  slavery  and  demanded  admittance  into 
the  Union.  Their  petition,  however,  was  rejected  by  the  Senate, 
in  which  the  Democrats  were  in  a  majority ;  and  not  till  1861 
was  Kansas  added  to  the  list  of  States. 

The  struggle  for  Kansas  intensified  the  feeling  between  North 
and  South  and  made  President  Pierce's  administration  a  stormy 
and  eventful  period.  So  determined  and  aggressive  did  the 
Northern  opponents  of  slavery  become,  that  they  formed  them- 
selves into  a  new  party.  At  first  they  were  called  "Anti- 
Nebraska  men,"  as  opposition  to  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill 
was  the  cardinal  point  in  their  political  creed ;  later  they  took 
the  name  of  Republicans.  They  absorbed  the  Free-Soil  party, 
drew  the  anti-slavery  Whigs  and  Democrats  into  their  ranks, 
and  almost  from  the  beginning  appeared  formidable.  In  1854 
they  elected  a  majority  of  the  House  of  Representatives ;  and 
their  leaders  in  Congress  showed  conspicuous  ability.  Sumner 
and  Seward  in  the  Senate,  and  Burlingame  and  Giddings  in 
the  House  voiced  the  Northern  anti-slavery  sentiment  in  no 
uncertain  tones. 

The  excitement  that  prevailed  throughout  the  country  was 
reflected  in  Congress  itself.  The  members  of  that  body 
engaged  in  acrimonious  debate,  carried  knives  and  pistols,  and 
challenged  each  other  not  unfrequently.  Sometimes  scenes  of 
violence  occurred  in  the  very  halls  of  Congress,  and  in  1856 
an  assault  was  made  upon  Charles  Sumner  in  the  Senate 
chamber  which  caused  great  excitement  throughout  the 
country.  In  a  heated  debate  Mr.  Sumner  spoke  in  offensive 
terms  of  Senator  Butler  of  South  Carolina.  Preston  S.  Brooks, 
a  nephew  of  Senator  Butler,  was  a  representative  from  the 
same  state,  and  he  considered  that  his  uncle's  honor  needed  to 
be  vindicated.  So,  entering  the  floor  of  the  Senate  with  a 
cane,  he  showered  repeated  blows  upon  Mr.  Sumner's  head, 
and  injured  him  so  severely  that  his  health  was  not  restored 
for  several  years.  Yet,  dastardly  as  was  the  outrage,  it  was 
not  seriously  rebuked  by  Southern  statesmen,  so  fierce  was 
their  resentment  toward  all  the  opponents  of  slavery. 

In  the  national  election  of  1856  the  Democrats  were  again 


CHAP.  VI  •  PIERCE   AND   BUCHANAN  417 

successful.  Of  the  296  votes  cast  in  the  Electoral  College  their 
candidates,  James  Buchanan  and  John  C.  Breckenridge,  received 
174.  But  they  were  by  no  means  satisfied  with  their  triumph. 
The  Republican  party  developed  surprising  strength,  and 
carried  a  majority  of  the  Northern  States.  Its  candidates, 
John  C.  Fremont  and  William  L.  Dayton,  received  114  elec- 
toral votes,  8  being  given  to  the  American  or  Know-Nothing 
candidates,  ex-President  Fillmore  and  Andrew  J.  Donelson. 
So  the  South  grew  more  and  more  uneasy  regarding  its  favorite 
institution.  It  feared  that  slavery  could  not  live,  if  the  Repub- 
lican party,  pledged  to  oppose  its  extension,  should  carry  a 
presidential  election.  And  that  contingency  did  not  seem 
very  far  away. 

James  Buchanan  was  born  in  Pennsylvania  in  1791.  A 
lawyer  by  profession,  he  showed  marked  ability  very  early  in 
his  career,  and  before  his  presidential  election  he  filled  various 
political  and  diplomatic  offices.  He  approved  of  President 
Jackson's  position  against  the  Nullification  movement  in 
1832 ;  but  he  never  resisted  the  claims  of  slavery,  and,  like 
Pierce,  he  gave  the  support  of  his  administration  to  the  South 
rather  than  the  North.  So  throughout  his  presidency  sectional 
feeling  grew  more  intense  and  dangerous. 

Yet  President  Buchanan's  administration  was  a  period  of 
prosperity  and  growth  in  spite  of  the  threatening  political 
conditions.  Three  new  States  were  admitted  to  the  Union, 
Minnesota,  Oregon,  and  Kansas.  The  population  continued  to 
increase,  and  by  18G0  it  had  reached  the  figure  of  thirty-one 
millions.  Ingenious  inventions  were  multiplying  the  power  of 
labor  and  bringing  wealth  and  comfort  to  the  people.  The  min- 
eral riches  of  the  country  were  showing  themselves  inexhaustible. 
Silver  as  well  as  gold  was  now  found  to  be  abundant.  Petro- 
leum was  discovered  in  Pennsylvania  in  1859,  and  the  deposits 
of  coal  were  found  to  be  far  more  extensive  than  was  at  first 
supposed. 

Thus  the  nation  was  rapidly  becoming  one  of  the  greatest  and 
wealthiest  in  the  world.  All  the  more  did  it  need  to  become 
an  undivided  nation,  that  there  might  be  no  hindrance  to  the 
growth  of  its  power  and  prosperity.  The  slave  question  sternly 
demanded  settlement.  So  long  as  the  nation  was  half  slave  and 
half  free  there  was  sure  to  be  unceasing  political  warfare  between 
2e 


418  THE   UNITED   STATES  book  in 

North  aad  South.  The  whole  country  was  disquieted.  Industry 
and  enterprise  did  not  have  free  play.  The  South  in  particu- 
lar failed  to  develop  its  great  mineral  resources,  because,  under 
the  deadening  influences  of  slavery,  it  gave  all  its  energies  to 
raising  cotton. 

But  the  march  of  events  was  rapid  during  the  four  years  of 
Buchanan's  administration.  The  excitement  over  slavery  con- 
tinued and  was  fed  by  new  and  portentous  happenings.  In 
1857  the  famous  Dred  Scott  Decision  was  given  by  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  and  caused  much  indignant 
protest  among  the  people  of  the  North.  For  in  the  North  it 
had  been  believed  that,  according  to  the  Constitution,  slaves 
w^ere  persons  held  to  labor,  and  were  property  only  by  State 
law.  But  it  appeared  that  this  view  was  a  mistaken  one. 
For  Dred  Scott,  a  Missouri  slave,  was  carried  by  his  master 
into  the  territory  that  had  been  declared  free  by  the  Missouri 
Compromise  of  1820 ;  and  he  accordingly  brought  a  suit  to 
gain  his  freedom.  But  the  Supreme  Court,  to  which  body  the 
case  was  appealed,  refused  to  declare  him  free.  As  a  slave,  he 
could  be  carried  where  his  master  willed,  like  cattle  or  any 
other  property.  Thus  the  bars  were  everywhere  broken  down. 
As  the  law  had  been  interpreted,  there  was  nothing  to  prevent 
the  people  of  the  South  from  settling  with  their  slaves  in  the 
very  hotbeds  of  the  Abolitionist  movement.  Naturally  the 
North  was  alarmed.  It  did  not  fear  that  the  free  Northern 
States  would  actually  be  invaded  by  slavery  ;  but  it  did  look 
with  concern  vipon  the  growing  strength  of  the  slave  power 
w^hich  the  Dred  Scott  decision  fostered  instead  of  discouraging. 

The  excitement  over  the  Dred  Scott  decision  had  hardly 
died  away  when  sectional  feeling  was  inflamed  anew  by  an 
event  of  startling  character.  On  the  night  of  October  10, 
1859,  John  Brown,  an  Abolitionist  who  had  won  notoriety  in 
Kansas,  seized  the  United  States  arsenal  at  Harper's  Ferry 
with  a  band  of  armed  associates.  His  plan  was  to  use  the 
arms  thus  acquired  for  equipping  the  slaves  and  inciting  them 
to  insurrection.  But  the  scheme  was  a  foolhardy  one  and 
resulted  in  utter  failure.  The  slaves  did  not  rise.  Brown  and 
his  followers  were  easily  overpowered  by  the  troops  sent 
against  them ;  and  on  December  2,  Brown  himself  and  all  of 
his  party  who  had  not  been  killed  in  the  fray  were  hanged  by 


CHAP.  VI  PIERCE  AND   BUCHANAN  419 


the  State  of  Virginia,  l^ut  the  excitement  of  the  South  was 
not  quieted  by  this  vindication  of  the  law.  Though  John 
Brown's  raid  was  easily  checked,  it  touched  the  people  of  the 
South  in  their  most  sensitive  spot,  the  fear  of  a  negro  insur- 
rection. So  the  Southern  hatred  of  the  Abolitionists  grew 
more  bitter  than  ever;  for  the  slave-owners  were  naturally 
indignant  that  the  very  movement  they  had  always  feared 
should  have  been  originated  by  their  own  countrymen.  Nor 
was  the  feeling  of  the  Abolitionists  any  less  vehement  and 
bitter.  They  justified  John  Brown,  pronounced  him  a  martyr, 
and  prophesied  that  his  death  would  hasten  the  doom  of 
slavery. 

Sectional  feeling  being  thus  excited,  the  slave  question  inev- 
itably became   the  vital   one   in   the   election  of   1860.     The 
Southern  Democrats  framed   their  platform  and  made  their 
nominations  with  a  view  to   defending   slavery   against   the 
attacks  of  the  North.     They  declared  that  it  was  the  duty  of 
Congress  to  protect  slavery  in  the  Territories  in  accordance 
with  the  Dred  Scott  decision.     Their  candidates  were  John  C. 
Breckenridge  of  Kentucky,  who  was  at  this  time  Vice-President, 
and  Joseph  Lane  of  Oregon.     The  Northern  Democrats  could 
not  indorse  such  a  platform  without  becoming  actual  champions 
of  slavery ;  so  they  made  their  own  independent  nominations, 
their  candidates   being   Stephen  A.   Douglas  of   Illinois  and 
Herschel  V.   Johnson  of    Georgia.      Unwilling   to  avoid  the 
question  of  slavery  altogether,  they  would  not  express  them- 
selves decidedly  for  or  against  it.     Their  platform  embodied  the 
ideas  of  Douglas,  who  held  that  each  Territory  should  be  slave 
or  free  according  to  the  wishes  of  its  inhabitants.    This  theory 
was   sometimes   known  as  squatter  sovereignty.      But   there 
were  many  conservative,  peace-loving  people  in  the  North  who 
believed  that  the  slave  question   caused   disturbance  because 
it  was  so  much  talked  about,  and  that  if   it  was  ignored  it 
would   ultimately  settle  itself.     They  accordingly  refused  to 
act  with  either  the  Northern  or  the  Southern  Democrats,  and 
nominated  John  Bell  of   Tennessee  and  Edward  Everett  of 
Massachusetts  on  a  platform  which  simply  declared  for  the 
Constitution,   the   Union,  and    the  enforcement  of    the  laws. 
And  lastly  there  were  the  nominees  of  the  Republican  party, 
Abraham  Lincoln  of  Illinois  and  Hannibal  Hamlin  of  Maine, 


420  THE   UNITED   STATES  book  hi 

who  were  pledged  to  oppose  slavery  in  the  Territories.  Thus 
the  Republicans  committed  themselves  against  slavery,  and 
their  party  was  the  party  of  the  anti-slavery  leaders.  Yet  the 
Republicans  were  by  no  means  to  be  classed  with  the  Abolition- 
ists. They  Avere  opposed  to  the  extension  of  slavery ;  they  had 
no  thought  of  making  war  upon  the  institution  itself.  Their 
cardinal  belief  was  that  the  Union  should  be  preserved. 
Slavery  they  opposed  because  it  threatened  the  permanence 
of  the  Union,  not  because  they  condemned  it  on  moral 
grounds. 

Intense  interest  was  taken  in  the  election.  A  victory  for 
the  Northern  Democrats  or  for  the  American  party  would  have 
meant  the  continuance  of  attempts  at  compromise  and  of  bitter 
feeling  between  the  North  and  the  South.  A  victory  of  the 
Southern  Democrats  would  have  filled  Northern  statesmen  with 
alarm  and  would  have  caused  them  wellnigh  to  despair  of 
saving  the  Union.  That  the  election  of  the  Republican  candi- 
dates would  actually  bring  about  the  disruption  of  the  Union 
was  hardly  supposed  in  the  North ;  but  it  was  eagerly  hoped 
for  by  all  the  opponents  of  slavery,  as  they  saw  in  it  the  only 
means  of  checking  the  growth  of  the  slave  power. 

The  Republicans  triumphed  and  disruption  came.  Lincoln 
and  Hamlin  received  180  votes  in  the  Electoral  College ;  Breck- 
enridge  and  Lane  72;  Bell  and  Everett  39;  and  Douglas  and 
Johnson  12.  Almost  as  soon  as  the  result  was  known.  South 
Carolina  summoned  a  state  convention  and  severed  her  connec- 
tion with  the  Union.  Six  other  States  soon  followed  her  ex- 
ample. Georgia,  Florida,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  and  Louisiana 
seceded  in  January,  1861 ;  and  Texas  in  February  of  the  same 
year.  Thus  the  secession  movement  had  become  formidable. 
Its  leaders  were  confident,  and  they  proceeded  to  establish  a 
government  of  their  own.  The  State  conventions  which  had 
passed  the  acts  of  secession  took  upon  themselves  the  authority 
of  sending  delegates  to  Montgomery,  Alabama,  to  form  a  con- 
federation of  the  seceded  States.  Early  in  February  the  dele- 
gates met,  framed  a  Constitution  for  the  "  Confederate  States," 
adopted  a  flag  which  became  known  as  the  "  Stars  and  Bars," 
and  chose  Jefferson  Davis  and  Alexander  Stephens  as  President 
and  Vice-President.  The  latter,  who  was  a  native  of  Georgia, 
opposed  secession  vigorously  until  1860 ;  but,  like  many  South- 


CHAP.  VI  PIERCE   AND   BUCHANAN  421 

erners,  he  deemed  allegiance  to  his  own  State  stronger  than 
that  which  he  owed  to  the  Union. 

The  States  that  had  seceded  were  the  sea-coast  States. 
Between  them  and  the  free  North  lay  seven  slave  States,  Mary- 
land, Virginia,  North  Carolina,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Missouri, 
and  Arkansas,  whose  attitude  was  for  some  time  doubtful.  The 
people  of  these  border  States  did  not  wish  to  secede,  but  many 
of  them  were  unwilling  to  see  the  States  that  had  seceded 
brought  back  into  the  Union  by  force.  It  was  quite  certain, 
therefore,  that  the  seven  Confederate  States  would  find  their 
numbers  increased  unless  they  could  be  persuaded  to  cancel 
their  ordinances  of  secession  and  submit  to  the  United  States 
Government. 

But  nothing  was  done  to  bring  about  this  result.  President 
Buchanan  ignored  the  whole  matter  of  secession  to  the  end  of 
his  term.  In  Congress  there  was  much  loose  talk  about  com- 
promise, but  nothing  was  accomplished.  Meanwhile,  the  whole 
South  was  busy  with  preparations  for  war.  For  years,  indeed, 
the  Southern  leaders  had  been  looking  for  such  a  crisis  as  had 
arisen,  and  now  that  it  had  come  they  were  ready  to  meet  it. 
So  prompt  and  vigorous  were  their  measures  in  the  seceded 
States  that  within  their  area  the  authority  of  the  United  States 
Government  was  soon  completely  destroyed.  The  soldiers  of 
the  United  States  were  disarmed  and  sent  away.  Forts  were 
erected.  Munitions  of  war  were  accumulated,  and  troops  were 
equipped  and  drilled.  If  a  struggle  was  to  come,  the  South  had 
reason  to  begin  it  with  confidence.  But  the  national  Govern- 
ment remained  utterly  inactive.  President  Buchanan  would 
not  sanction  any  measure  that  looked  toward  suppressing  the 
secession  movement.^ 

1  Buchanan's  conduct  during  this  critical  period  is  vigorously  defended  in 
King's  "  Turning  on  the  Light "  (see  especially  pp.  129  et  seq.).  For  the  other 
side  consult  Rhodes's  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  IH.  217-228. 


CHAPTER  VII 
Lincoln's  administration.  —  the  civil  war 

The  first  decided  measure  of  the  new  administration  was 
to  send  supplies  to  Fort  Sumter  in  Charleston  Harbor.  For 
some  time  the  leaders  of  secession  in  South  Carolina  had  been 
preparing  to  capture  this  fortress.  They  had  built  forts  and 
batteries  about  it  which  Major  Anderson,  in  command  of  Fort 
Sumter,  was  forbidden  by  the  United  States  Government  to 
fire  upon,  but  which  drove  away  a  vessel  sent  to  Major  Ander- 
son's relief.  Hence  the  garrison  of  Fort  Sumter  could  get  no 
supplies  of  food,  and  at  the  beginning  of  Lincoln's  administra- 
tion it  was  being  rapidly  reduced  to  extremities.  But  when  the 
secession  leaders  found  that  Lincoln  had  despatched  a  fleet  to 
succor  the  fortress,  they  opened  fire  upon  the  fort,  and  soon 
forced  it  to  surrender.  Thus  civil  war  was  begun.  The 
secession  movement  had  developed  into  armed  rebellion. 

There  was  now  but  one  course  open  to  President  Lincoln. 
Having  sworn  to  maintain  the  Constitution,  he  must  suppress 
the  rebellion  at  any  cost.  Civil  war  had  become  inevitable,  but 
it  was  to  be  waged  simply  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union. 
Mr.  Lincoln  resolutely  refused  to  free  the  slaves  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  war,  and  thereby  greatly  disappointed  the  Aboli- 
tionists, who  considered  the  destruction  of  slavery  the  chief 
end  of  the  conflict.  He  ordered  a  blockade  of  the  Southern 
ports  and  called  for  seventy-five  thousand  volunteers  to  suppress 
the  rebellion.  But  these  measures  brought  matters  to  a  crisis 
in  the  border  States.  Four  of  them,  Arkansas,  North  Caro- 
lina, Tennessee,  and  Virginia,  cast  their  fortunes  with  the  South. 
Maryland,  Kentucky,  and  Missouri  were  saved  for  the  Union, 
partly  by  the  efforts  of  the  Union  men  in  them,  partly  by  the 
action  of  the  United  States  Government.  In  West  Virginia 
the  population  was  so  loyal  to  the  Union  that  this  portion  of 

422 


CHAP.  VII  LINCOLN'S   ADMINISTRATION  423 

Virginia  was  made  by  Congress  into  a  separate  State.  There 
were  now,  therefore,  eleven  States  in  the  Southern  Confederacy, 
while  those  that  remained  in  the  Union  numbered  twenty-two. 
The  former  had  a  popvilation  of  about  eight  millions  ;  while  that 
of  the  States  which  had  not  seceded  was  nearly  three  times  as 
great.  Moreover,  the  North  had  a  great  advantage  over  the 
South  in  its  wealth  and  in  the  variety  of  its  industries.  It  had 
long  been  engaged  in  manufactures,  and  through  these  and 
through  the  richness  of  its  agricultural  regions  its  resources 
were  practically  inexhaustible ;  while  the  South,  producing  little 
but  cotton  and  unable  to  send  that  abroad  on  account  of  the 
blockade  of  its  ports,  became  gradually  impoverished. 

None  the  less  the  South  made  a  long  and  gallant  resistance 
against  superior  force,  and  there  were  times  when  the  national 
cause  looked  dark  and  discouraging.  It  soon  became  evident 
that  the  South  could  not  be  subdued  unless  slavery  were  de- 
stroyed, and  Mr.  Lincoln  issued  an  emancipation  proclamation 
on  January  1,  1863,  in  which  the  slaves  were  declared  to  be 
their  own  masters.  But  even  after  this  decided  step  was  taken, 
the  Union  armies  suffered  many  reverses;  and  it  was  not  until 
April  26, 1865,  that  the  resistance  of  the  South  was  completely 
overcome.  Unhappily,  Mr.  Lincoln  did  not  live  to  see  this  final 
triumph  which  his  owu  wisdom  and  lofty  courage  had  so 
largely  brought  about.  Reelected  in  1864,  he  had  entered  upon 
his  second  term  of  office  under  bright  auspices,  and  had  shared 
the  rejoicing  of  the  North  over  Lee's  surrender,  which  occurred 
on  April  9,  only  about  a  month  after  his  famous  Second  Inau- 
gural Address  was  delivered.  But  on  April  14  he  was  shot  by 
an  assassin  at  Ford's  Theatre  in  Washington,  and  died  after 
lingering  a  few  hours  in  unconsciousness.  Profound  gloom  fell 
upon  the  nation  when  this  calamity  was  known ;  for,  though 
doubted  and  distrusted  when  the  war  began,  President  Lincoln 
had  gradually  won  the  enthusiastic  regard  of  his  countrymen. 
His  great  patience,  his  homely  wisdom,  his  kindness  of  heart, 
and  his  unswerving  justice  had  made  a  profound  impression 
upon  the  people.  His  quaint  sayings  were  everywhere  repeated ; 
his  name  was  everywhere  mentioned  with  deep  and  reverent 
affection.  But  his  cliaracter  was  not  merely  one  to  be  admired  ; 
it  was  a  distinctive  product  of  American  life  and  American 
institutions.     The  breadth,  the  freedom,  the  humanity  and  the 


424  THE   UNITED   STATES  book  in 

moral  dignity  of  the  new  democracy  had  moulded  this  remark- 
able man  and  made  him  one  of  the  most  perfect  products  of  mod- 
ern civilization.  In  his  nature  gentleness  and  strength  were  so 
admirably  blended  as  to  render  him  an  ideal  leader  for  a  free 
people.  He  asked  no  blind  allegiance.  He  believed  in  the 
people,  and  he  was  always  ready  to  wait  till  they  could  follow 
him.  The  result  was  that  they  gave  him  their  hearts  and  their 
devotion  in  a  manner  hardly  paralleled  in  history. 

The  rebellion  was  crushed,  but  this  vast  result  had  not  been 
accomplished  without  heavy  cost.  Hundreds  of  thousands 
of  lives  had  been  sacrificed  and  billions  of  dollars  had  been 
expended  to  secure  the  harmony  of  the  Union.  Moreover,  in 
order  to  meet  extraordinary  expenditures,  the  national  Con- 
gress had  resorted  to  unwise  financial  legislation,  which  could 
not  readily  be  undone  and  which  has  not  yet  ceased  to  plague 
the  country.  In  1857  the  tariff  had  been  put  upon  a  scientific 
basis  by  a  most  excellent  bill ;  ^  but,  for  purposes  of  revenue 
rather  than  of  protection,  this  admirable  adjustment  of  the 
tariff  question  was  set  aside,  and  a  high  scale  of  duties  was 
adopted  in  the  early  years  of  the  war.  And,  once  adopted,  it 
was  permanently  retained,  contrary  to  all  expectations,  for  the 
manufactvirers,  having  tasted  the  benefits  of  extreme  protec- 
tion, were  loath  to  give  them  up.  Hence  the  Republican  party 
became  committed  to  a  high  tariff  policy,  and  the  principle  of 
government  paternalism  was  immensely  strengthened  and 
encouraged.  And  even  more  far-reaching  in  its  political 
effects  was  the  legislation  now  passed  in  regard  to  the  cur- 
rency. Up  to  this  time  Congress  had  controlled  the  coinage, 
as  authorized  by  the  Constitution,  without  exciting  serious 
political  comment.  In  1792  it  enacted  that  the  coinage  ratio 
between  gold  and  silver  should  be  15  to  1 ;  and  it  provided 
that  eagles,  half  eagles,  and  quarter  eagles  should  be  coined 
from  gold,  and  dollars,  half  dollars,  quarter  dollars,  dimes,  and 
half  dimes  should  be  coined  from  silver.  But  as  this  ratio 
caused  the  gold  to  be  driven  out  by  the  silver,  in  accordance 
with  Gresham's  Law,  the  ratio  was  made  16  to  1  in  1834,  and 
now  it  was  the  silver  that  was  driven  out.  Indeed,  a  law  was 
passed  in  1853  to  increase  slightly  the  amount  of  silver  used 
in  the  fractional  coins,  for  it  was  found  difficult  to  keep  them 

1  Taussig's  "  Tariff  History  of  tlie  Uuited  States." 


CHAP,  vn  LINCOLN'S  ADMINISTRATION  425 

in  circulation.^  But  thus  far  Congress  had  avoided  issuing 
paper  money,  and  in  regulating  the  coinage  it  had  obeyed  the 
requirements  of  sound  finance,  and  not  the  dictates  of  party. 
But,  pressed  by  the  exigencies  of  the  Civil  War,  Congress 
unfortunately  decided  to  make  the  Government's  credit  serve 
in  the  place  of  rnone}^,  and  authorized  the  issue  of  notes  with  a 
face  value  of  f  500,000,000.  These  notes  were  mere  promises 
to  pay  on  demand,  but  they  were  legal  tender  and  were  redeem- 
able in  coin.  The  result  was  that  they  soon  drove  both  gold 
and  silver  out  of  circulation,  and  brought  gold  to  so  high  a 
premium  that  a  single  dollar  of  that  metal  was  worth  more  than 
two  dollars  in  paper  money.  Thus  the  nation  began  to  experi- 
ence the  necessary  consequences  of  issuing  hat  money.  It  was 
burdened  with  a  depreciated  currency ;  but,  far  worse  than 
that,  it  had  created  in  the  minds  of  the  people  a  craving  for 
a  debased  circulating  medium.  For  from  that  time  to  the 
present  day  the  poorer  classes  have  not  ceased  to  think  that 
the  Government  could  relieve  their  poverty  by  making  dollars 
enough  for  all.  Thus  it  becomes  apparent  that  the  Civil  War 
exerted  a  profound  and  immeasurable  influence  upon  the  nation's 
political  development.  For  even  while  it  was  accomplishing  its 
momentous  task  of  abolishing  slavery  and  making  the  Union 
whole,  it  was  leading  Congress  into  actions  which  became  the 
ultimate  source  of  ever  increasing  dissensions  and  party  war- 
fares. 

But  in  that  it  did  make  the  Union  whole,  the  war  was  worth 
all  that  it  cost.  Ever  since  1789  it  had  been  an  unsolved  ques- 
tion whether  the  States  could  withdraw  from  the  compact  they 
had  voluntarily  made.  But  that  question  was  now  settled,  and 
the  permanency  of  the  Union  was  secured.  The  principle  of 
federation  had  won  a  glorious  triumph.  It  had  proved  capable 
of  making  a  strong  and  enduring  nation.  The  Republic  now 
stood  before  the  world  united,  free,  and  great. 

1  For  a  discussion  of  these  various  eoinaj^e  measures  consult  Laupflilin's 
"History  of  Bimetallism  in  the  United  States,"  or  Bolle's  " Fiuaucial  History 
of  the  United  States  from  1789  to  1860,"  Book  III.  Ch.  XI. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE   ADMINISTRATIONS    OF    JOHNSON    AND    GRANT. — RECON- 
STRUCTION 

The  assassination  of  President  Lincoln  was  part  of  a  plot 
to  kill  all  the  highest  officials  in  Washington,  and  leave  the 
country  without  a  government.  Fortunately,  the  infamous 
scheme  was  frustrated.  Andrew  Johnson,  the  Vice-President, 
was  at  once  sworn  into  the  presidential  office,  and  the  Govern- 
ment did  not  suffer  even  a  temporary  collapse. 

But  the  course  of  affairs  was  troublous  during  the  adminis- 
tration of  President  Johnson.  He  was  a  Southern  man,  who 
had  settled  in  Tennessee  at  an  early  age  and  had  there  obtained 
political  preferment.  Becoming  President  through  Lincoln's 
death,  he  showed  himself  eager  to  punish  the  leaders  of  the 
Rebellion;  but  it  soon  became  apparent  that  his  condemna- 
tion of  treason  was  due  rather  to  class  hatred  than  to  exalted 
patriotism.  He  was  a  self-willed  and  passionate  man,  with- 
out breadth  and  magnanimity ;  and,  being  a  poor  white  him- 
self, he  disliked  the  Southern  leaders  because  they  were  his 
social  superiors.  Accordingly,  he  was  anxious  to  see  them 
brought  to  justice,  while  he  had  no  feeling  against  the  rank 
and  file  of  the  secession  movement.  But  the  nation  did  not 
indorse  these  sentiments.  There  was  a  feeling  throughout 
the  North  that  quite  enough  blood  had  been  shed  during  the 
war,  and  that  the  nation's  victory  should  not  be  sullied  by 
unnecessary  and  vindictive  executions.  Jefferson  Davis  was 
indeed  arrested,  and  for  two  years  was  imprisoned  in  Fortress 
Monroe ;  but  he  was  set  free  in  1868,  and  no  other  leaders  of 
the  rebellion  were  even  molested. 

Thus  Johnson  put  himself  out  of  sympathy  with  Northern 
feeling ;  and,  as  time  passed,  he  and  the  Republican  majority 
in  Congress  became  thoroughly  antagonistic.     The  great  prob- 

426 


CHAP.  VIII  JOHNSON   AND   GRANT  427 

lem  of  Reconstruction  was  before  the  country.  The  States 
that  had  seceded  were  to  be  governed  and  were  to  receive 
back  their  full  political  rights  as  soon  as  possible.  But  in 
accomplishing  these  ends,  the  President  and  Congress  dis- 
agreed. The  President's  plan  was  that  the  whites  in  each 
Southern  State  should  elect  delegates  to  a  convention,  and 
that  the  convention  should  repeal  the  ordinance  of  secession 
passed  just  before  the  war,  agree  not  to  pay  any  debt  incurred 
by  supporting  the  Confederacy,  and  ratify  the  Thirteenth 
Amendment,  which  declared  slavery  abolished,  and  which 
Congress  had  voted  to  bring  before  the  country.  This  plan 
was  actually  carried  out.  The  seceded  States  conformed  to 
these  requirements  of  President  Johnson,  organized  govern- 
ments, and  elected  members  of  Congress  who  would,  they 
supposed,  be  admitted  to  the  national  Senate  and  House  of 
Eepresentatives. 

But  Congress  declined  to  admit  them.  In  both  of  its 
branches  the  Republicans  were  in  a  two  thirds  majority  and 
they  coi;ld  act  in  entire  disregard  of  the  President's  wishes; 
for  they  could  pass  any  measure  they  pleased  over  his  veto. 
And  this  power  they  proceeded  to  exercise.  They  did  not  at  all 
approve  of  President  Johnson's  reconstruction  scheme.  It 
was  too  liberal  for  them,  so  they  framed  one  to  suit  them- 
selves. They  were  determined  that  the  leaders  of  the  Con- 
federacy shoidd  not  vote  and  that  the  negroes  should.  Por, 
now  that  slavery  was  abolished,  the  Republicans  held  that 
the  negro  was  a  citizen  and  was  entitled  to  the  rights  of  one. 
Accordingly,  Congress  passed  its  own  reconstruction  acts 
over  the  veto  of  the  President  in  March,  1867.  By  these  acts 
Southern  Senators  and  Representatives  were  to  be  admitted 
to  Congress  only  if  negroes  were  allowed  to  vote,  and  the 
Fourteenth  Amendment,  which  deprived  the  Confederate 
leaders  of  the  right  to  vote  and  to  hold  office,  was  ratified. 
Moreover,  military  governors  were  to  be  appointed  by  the 
President  in  all  the  seceded  States,  and  United  States  troops 
were  to  be  kept  in  the  South  to  sustain  their  authority. 

These  conditions  were  hard.  Toward  the  end  of  the  war. 
President  Lincoln  had  attempted  to  bring  several  States  back 
■into  the  Union,  and  had  wished  to  restore  to  them  at  the  out- 
set their  fidl    political   rights   and    privileges.     His    plan   of 


428  THE   UNITED   STATES  book  hi 

reconstruction  was  not  indeed  materially  different  from  that 
of  President  Johnson.  But  even  he  had  come  into  collision 
with  Congress  in  carrying  out  this  scheme.^  The  Republicans 
in  Congress  were  suspicious  of  the  men  who  had  just  been  in 
arms  against  the  Union.  They  feared  that  the  rights  of  the 
newly  enfranchised  negro  Avould  not  be  respected ;  and  they 
considered  it  more  important  to  secure  these  rights  than  they 
did  to  conciliate  the  South  and  destroy  that  bitter  sectional 
feeling  which  slavery  had  engendered  and  the  war  had  by  no 
means  destroyed.  Hence  they  adopted  a  policy  which  resulted 
in  years  of  disturbance  and  of  bitter  recrimination  between 
North  and  South. 

But  there  was  nothing  for  these  Southern  States  to  do  but 
accept  the  conditions  imposed  by  the  Republican  Congress. 
So  all  but  four  of  them  ratified  the  Fourteenth  Amendment, 
submitted  to  military  rule,  and  saw  the  negroes  vote  and  hold 
office,  while  their  own  leaders  were  obliged  to  keep  out  of  the 
political  arena  until  they  were  pardoned  by  Congress.  But 
they  did  not  quietly  acquiesce  in  bayonet  rule.  They  formed 
organizations  which  terrorized  the  negroes  and  did  wild  and 
bloody  work  among  them  for  many  years.  Of  these  organiza- 
tions the  most  notorious  was  the  Ku-Klux-Klan. 

President  Johnson  was  not  behind  the  Confederate  leaders 
in  his  dislike  of  the  reconstruction  acts  of  Congress.  He 
carried  out  their  provisions,  but  he  did  so  under  protest ;  and 
his  feeling  of  resentment  toward  Congress  grew  increasingly 
bitter.  Again  and  again  he  vetoed  its  reconstruction  bills, 
but  invariably  they  were  passed  over  his  veto.  Finally,  in 
March,  1867,  Congress  passed  the  Tenure  of  Office  Act,  which 
Johnson  held  to  be  unconstitutional.  Therefore,  after  vetoing 
it  in  vain,  he  determined  to  disobey  it.  It  required  the  Presi- 
dent to  obtain  the  consent  of  the  Senate  before  removing 
officials  of  the  highest  class.  Hence,  by  removing  Stanton, 
the  Secretary  of  War,  Johnson  brought  on  an  open  struggle 
between  himself  and  Congress.  For  the  Senate  refused  to 
sanction  the  removal,  and,  when  Johnson  persisted  in  forcing 
Stanton  out  of  office,  he  was  impeached  by  the  House  of 
Representatives. 

1  An  interesting  .iccoiiiit  of  this  episode  may  be  found  iu  Blaine's  "  Twenty 
Years  of  Congress,"  II.  34-50. 


CHAP.  VIII  JOHNSON   AND   GRANT  429 

Intense  interest  was  awakened  throughout  the  country  by 
this  action  of  Congress.  No  President  had  ever  been  impeached 
before ;  and  the  trial  of  the  chief  magistrate  of  a  great  nation 
was  a  spectacle  of  the  most  solemn  character.  In  Europe  it 
was  wondered  whether  our  national  institutions  could  stand 
such  a  strain.  Yet,  great  as  was  the  public  excitement  over 
the  trial,  it  was  from  beginning  to  end  a  most  quiet  and  orderly 
proceeding.  In  accordance  with  provisions  of  the  Constitution, 
the  charges  against  President  Johnson  were  made  by  the  House 
and  judged  by  the  Senate.  The  most  able  and  eloquent  mem- 
bers of  the  House  of  Representatives  presented  the  case  against 
the  President,  while  he  was  defended  by  some  of  the  most 
skilful  lawyers  in  the  country.  When  the  vote  was  finally 
taken,  thirty-five  Senators  were  in  favor  of  conviction  and  nine- 
teen in  favor  of  acquittal.  The  President  was  therefore  vindi- 
cated, a  two  thirds  vote  being  necessary  to  prove  him  guilty. 
The  result  was  a  great  disappointment  to  the  majority  of  the 
Republicans,  as  they  firmly  believed  that  the  President  had 
violated  the  Constitution.  But  the  soberest  and  sanest  minds 
in  the  nation  approved  of  the  verdict.  In  opposing  Congress 
President  Johnson  had  acted  strictly  within  his  legal  rights. 
Even  in  removing  Secretary  Stanton  he  had  only  forced  a  deci- 
sion on  the  constitutionality  of  the  Tenure  of  Office  Act.  After 
his  refusal  to  obey  this  law,  it  was  left  for  the  Supreme  Court 
to  decide  whether  or  not  the  act  was  legal.  Had  it  been 
declared  legal,  Johnson  would  doubtless  have  obeyed  it.  But 
during  his  administration  the  Republican  majority  in  Congress 
grew  extremely  arrogant  through  the  exercise  of  power,  and 
was  unwilling  to  brook  opposition.  Finding  it  could  override 
the  President's  vetoes,  it  concluded  it  could  dictate  to  him  on 
its  own  terms.  The  result  of  the  impeachment  trial  convinced 
it  that  the  President  had  some  rights  of  his  own.  And  eventu- 
ally the  country  learned  to  believe  that  the  verdict  of  acquittal 
was  not  merely  just,  but  was  greatly  needed  to  hold  the  legisla- 
tive branch  of  the  Government  in  check  and  keep  it  from 
infringing  upon  the  privileges  of  the  executive. 

Although  the  problem  of  reconstruction  had  absorbed  the 
country  during  Johnson's  administration,  it  Avas  by  no  means 
the  only  important  matter  that  came  up  during  that  period. 
The  French  troops  were  withdrawn  from  Mexico  at  the  urgent 


430  THE   UNITED   STATES  book  hi 

request  of  the  United  States,  and  Maximilian  was  left  to  his 
unhappy  fate.  A  submarine  telegraph  was  successfully  carried 
from  Ireland  to  Newfoundland  in  18G6.  The  territory  of  the 
United  States  was  increased  by  the  purchase  of  Alaska  from 
Eussia  in  1867,  the  price  paid  being  $7,200,000.  Nebraska 
was  admitted  to  the  Union  in  the  same  year.  The  national 
debt  of  nearly  $3,000,000,000  was  diminished  and  commercial 
prosperity  greatly  promoted,  though  gold  still  remained  at  a 
premium.  Yov  not  yet  had  the  inflation  of  the  currency  during 
the  war  ceased  to  disturb  values.  Nor  did  the  greenbacks  cease 
to  cause  financial  trouble,  even  after  specie  payments  were 
resumed ;  for  they  gave  their  holders  the  right  to  draw  gold 
out  of  the  treasury,  and  thus  forced  the  Government  to  keep 
on  hand  a  quantity  of  gold  large  enough  to  meet  all  demands. 
In  other  words,  the  Government  had  assumed  the  functions  of 
a  bank,  and  would  be  in  danger  of  bankruptcy  if  at  any  time 
the  gold  reserve  in  the  treasury  should  show  signs  of  becoming 
exhausted.  And  that  this  danger  was  not  an  imaginary  one 
the  country  was  soon  to  learn  by  painful  experience. 

Reconstruction  was  the  important  issue  in  the  presidential 
election  of  1868.  The  Republicans  were  determined  to  uphold 
the  policy  adopted  by  Congress,  and  to  that  end  they  nomi- 
nated General  Grant  and  Schuyler  Colfax  of  Indiana.  As  the 
North  was  still  overwhelmingly  Republican,  and  as  the  mili- 
tary rule  in  the  South  made  it  possible  for  the  negroes  to  vote, 
the  Republicans  gained  an  easy  victory.  The  Democrats  nomi- 
nated Horatio  Seymour  of  New  York  and  Frank  P.  Blair  of 
Missouri ;  but  in  the  Electoral  College  these  candidates  received 
only  80  votes  out  of  a  total  of  294. 

Accordingly  the  work  of  reconstruction  was  continued.  In 
1870  Georgia,  Mississippi,  Texas,  and  Virginia  were  readmitted 
to  the  Union,  and  the  Fifteenth  Amendment  was  ratified  by 
three  fourths  of  the  States  and  became  a  part  of  the  Constitution. 
It  declared  that  no  person  should  be  prevented  from  voting 
because  of  race,  color,  or  previous  condition  of  servitude,  and  thus 
protected  the  negro  in  the  exercise  of  his  political  rights.  But 
the  whites  were  biding  their  time.  They  knew  that  bayonet 
rule  could  not  be  maintained  in  the  South  for  many  years,  for 
public  sentiment  would  not  long  justify  this  survival  of  the 
war.     Meanwhile  they  cowed  and  intimidated  the  negroes,  and 


CHAP,  viii  JOHNSON  AND  GRANT  431 

when  they  were  accused  of  violence  and  brutality,  they  charged 
the  reconstruction  governments  with  fraud  and  corruption. 
Nor  were  their  charges  without  foundation.  Altogether,  the 
condition  of  the  South  was  far  from  happy.  It  was  impover- 
ished by  the  war,  it  needed  capital  to  develop  its  resources, 
it  was  restless  and  discontented  under  the  Republican  recon- 
struction policy.  The  reconstructed  governments  felt  their 
inefficiency  and  powerlessness,  and  appealed  to  President  Grant 
for  assistance.  To  this  appeal  Grant  always  responded.  He 
sent  troops  Avherever  they  were  needed,  and  showed  that  United 
States  authority  was  behind  the  unpopular  State  governments. 
But  it  was  beginning  to  be  plain  that  the  South  must  in  the 
end  be  allowed  to  manage  its  own  affairs.  Bayonet  rule  was 
an  anomaly  in  a  free  republic. 

It  was  during  this  administration  (May  8, 1871)  that  the  im- 
portant Treaty  of  Washington  was  arranged  between  Great 
Britain  and  the  United  States.  By  its  provisions  the  Alabama 
Claims  (p.  o03)  and  the  San  Juan  boundary  dispute  were  sub- 
mitted to  arbitration,  and  the  question  of  the  Canadian  Fisheries 
was  referred  to  a  special  commission.  The  decision  regarding 
San  Juan  was  given  in  1872,  and  this  small  island,  which  lies 
near  Vancouver's  Island  and  which  was  claimed  both  by  Great 
Britain  and  the  United  States,  was  awarded  to  the  latter  power 
by  the  Emperor  of  Germany ;  but  the  Fisheries  question  was 
settled  by  an  international  commission  in  1877,  greatly  to  the 
advantage  of  Great  Britain.^ 

Grant's  administration  was  on  the  whole  a  period  of  great 
national  prosperity.  The  mineral  and  agricultural  resources 
were  developed.  New  railroads  were  built.  IVfanufacturing 
interests  flourished.  So  enormously  did  the  wealth  of  the 
country  increase  that  it  was  possible  to  pay  off  the  national 
debt  very  rapidly  without   making   the   burden   of   taxation 

1  The  difficulties  between  Canada  and  the  United  States  over  the  Fisheries 
question  are  brietiy  stated  on  p.  ."141.  A  general  survey  of  the  subject  may  he 
found  in  Appleton's  Annual  Cyclopnidia  for  1887,  p.  280  ei  .se.q.,  and  a  fuller 
treatment  in  the  ForUiig/itli/  Rpvinr,  .'>.'?:  741;  the  American  Laio  Revietv, 
21  :.%!*  (applying  to  the  question  the  principles  of  intcrnatiimal  law)  ;  and  the 
Nation,  44 :  44.'5.  Of  special  iniiHirtance  are  the  docuuicnts  hearing  upon 
this  question  in  th'!  "Foreign  Relations  of  the  United  States"  for  1878,  par- 
ticularly the  letter  from  Mr.  Evarts  to  Mr.  John  Welsh  on  p.  290,  and  Lord 
Salisbury's  reply  to  the  same  on  p.  olG. 


432  THE   UNITED   STATES  book  hi 

heavy.     And  the  population  of  the  country  increased  steadily, 
till  in  1870  it  had  reached  the  figure  of  38,558,371. 

And  yet  this  prosperity  was  mainly  material  and  external,  and 
was  therefore  deceptive  in  its  character.  So  absorbed  had  the 
nation  been  by  the  great  problem  of  reconstruction  that  it  had 
been  blind  to  the  manifold  dangers  that  were  beginning  to 
threaten  its  political  life.  And  that  these  dangers  were  not  at 
once  discerned  was  only  natural.  The  long  excitement  of  the 
struggle  with  slavery,  followed  by  the  fierce  agonies  of  civil 
war,  had  severely  taxed  the  national  energy  and  had  inclined 
the  popular  mind  rather  to  a  justifiable  pride  in  what  had  been 
accomplished  than  to  an  anticipation  of  coming  evils.  Hence 
the  average  citizen  failed  to  see  that  he  was  face  to  face  with 
new  and  difficult  problems,  and  that  in  a  great  democracy, 
quite  as  much  as  under  a  despotism,  liberty  is  only  secured  by 
ceaseless  vigilance.  The  demoralization  of  the  civil  service, 
the  vicious  use  of  money  in  political  campaigns,  the  general 
disappearance  of  statesmen  from  public  life,  the  growing 
indifference  of  Congressmen  to  all  things  but  party  success,  and 
their  incompetence  to  deal  with  grave  economic  and  social 
problems,  escaped  general  notice.  Yet  there  were  many  clear- 
sighted  men  who  were  far  from  satisfied  with  the  condition  of 
the  country.  Eespecting  Grant  as  a  general  and  a  citizen, 
they  did  not  believe  him  a  statesman.  Under  his  management 
of  affairs  they  saw  corruption  in  office  overlooked,  and  party 
intolerance  and  narrowness  encouraged.  Moreover,  they  thor- 
oughly disapproved  of  maintaining  the  reconstruction  govern- 
ments by  military  force.  This  discontent  showed  itself  in  the 
presidential  campaign  of  1872.  A  number  of  liberal  Kepubli- 
cans,  prominent  among  whom  was  Carl  Schurz  of  Missouri,  de- 
termined to  make  an  independent  nomination.  They  selected 
Horace  Greeley  of  New  York  and  B.  Gratz  Brown  of  jVIissouri  as 
their  candidates,  and  these  nominations  were  approved  by  the 
Democratic  National  Convention.  But  the  choice  was  not  a 
fortunate  one.  Horace  Greeley  was  a  man  of  the  purest  inten- 
tions, but  he  was  considered  erratic  and  unpractical,  and  he 
did  not  command  the  confidence  of  the  nation.  His  candidacy 
therefore  became  little  better  than  a  farce.  The  Republicans 
nominated  President  Grant  and  Henry  Wilson  of  Massachu- 
setts, and  easily  swept  the  country.     Of  the  366  electoral  votes 


CHAP.  VIII  JOHNSON  AND   GRANT  433 

cast  their  candidate  received  all  but  80.  So  the  Independent 
movement  suffered  a  defeat  that  disguised  its  real  strength 
and  meaning.  Por  many  Kepublicans  were  growing  more  and 
more  out  of  sympathy  with  their  party.  They  disliked  its 
high  tariff  policy.  They  resisted  its  claim  that  the  Democrats 
could  not  safely  be  trusted  with  the  management  of  national 
affairs.  They  believed,  furthermore,  that  the  unlimited  con- 
tinuance of  one  party  in  power  was  undemocratic  and  unwise. 

The  course  of  events  in  Grant's  second  administration  only 
increased  their  dissatisfaction.  Political  scandals  were  numer- 
ous and  involved  many  government  officials.  The  Indians 
were  cheated  and  made  rebellious  by  the  Indian  agents.  In 
the  West  a  whiskey  ring  of  distillers  and  revenue  officers  was 
found  to  be  systematically  swindling  the  Government.  The 
Credit  Mobilier,  an  organization  founded  to  push  through  the 
Pacific  Railroad,  secured  the  votes  of  Congressmen  by  pres- 
ents of  stock.  Even  a  member  of  the  Cabinet  was  suspected 
of  taking  bribes,  and  only  escaped  impeachment  by  resigning. 
The  political  atmosphere  at  Washington  was  unwholesome, 
and  some  of  Grant's  own  friends  were  implicated  in  dishonest 
practices.  That  the  President  himself  was  thoroughly  upright 
and  honorable  was  never  for  a  moment  doubted.  His  char- 
acter was  one  of  noble  simplicity  and  directness.  He  was 
indeed  so  free  from  guile  that  he  could  not  suspect  it  in  others. 
Hence  he  persisted  in  believing  his  associates  honest  and  in 
protecting  them,  even  when  their  guilt  was  clearly  shown. 
Consequently,  through  his  very  magnanimity,  his  administra- 
tion was  in  bad  odor  before  its  close. 

Nor  did  the  national  prosperity  continue  without  cheek  dur- 
ing Grant's  second  term.  Railroads  were  built  faster  than  the 
country  needed  them,  and  the  capital  thus  invested  brought 
no  returns.  Property  accordingly  depreciated.  Money  became 
scarce.  In  1873  a  financial  panic  occurred  and  made  business 
stagnant  for  several  years. 

Hence  the  Republicans  could  not  engage  in  the  national 
election  of  1876  with  al)Solute  confidence.  They  could  not 
point  to  a  clean  administration  of  affairs.  They  could  not 
rely  upon  a  solid  support  in  either  the  North  or  the  South. 
For  in  the  North  they  had  lost  many  of  their  supporters ;  and 
in  the  South  the  whites  were  gaining  control  of  the  State 
2f 


434  THE   UNITED   STATES  book  in 

governments  and  were  intimidating  the  negroes.  In  only 
three  States,  South  Carolina,  Florida,  and  Louisiana,  were  the 
reconstruction  governments  still  maintained.  In  all  the  other 
Southern  States  the  people  had  overthrown  them  at  the  polls, 
elected  their  own  governors,  and  assumed  entire  control  of 
their  own  affairs.  And  this  control  meant  that  the  negroes 
would  no  longer  be  allowed  to  vote.  The  whites  were  deter- 
mined, by  fair  means  or  foul,  to  be  the  dominant  race  in  the 
South.  So  they  kept  the  negroes  from  the  polls  and  made  a 
Republican  majority  in  the  South  impossible  for  many  years. 
For  throughout  the  South  the  whites  continued  to  support  the 
Democratic  party,  as  they  had  done  before  the  war. 

As  a  result  of  this  state  of  affairs  the  election  was  bitterly 
contested.  The  Republicans,  nominated  Rutherford  B.  Hayes 
of  Ohio  and  William  A.  Wheeler  of  New  York.  Their  most 
brilliant  leader  was  James  G.  Blaine  of  Maine ;  but,  though 
he  had  an  enthusiastic  following  in  the  National  Republican 
Convention,  many  viewed  him  with  distrust,  and  he  could  not 
command  a  majority  of  the  delegates.  The  Democrats  put 
forward  their  most  eminent  statesman,  Samuel  J.  Tilden  of 
New  York,  a  man  of  great  ability  and  of  wide  and  successful 
experience  in  public  affairs.  As  Governor  of  New  York  he 
had  carried  out  reforms  with  a  vigorous  hand.  The  Demo- 
cratic candidate  for  Vice-President  was  Thomas  A.  Hendricks 
of  Indiana.  Nominations  were  also  made  by  the  Greenback, 
or  National  party ;  and,  though  its  candidates  obtained  no 
electoral  votes,  the  independent  stand  made  by  the  party  was 
significant.  It  pointed  to  the  fact  that  many  voters  were  dis- 
posed to  make  finance  the  leading  political  issue.  As  time* 
passed  this  tendency  increased.  The  discontented  classes  grew 
more  numerous,  and  they  demanded  that  the  Government  should 
remedy  their  grievances  by  making  money  more  abundant.  The 
Greenback  party  came  to  an  end,  but  the  Free  Silver  party  took 
its  place,  and  finally,  in  the  last  decade  of  the  century,  free 
silver  was  made  the  dominant  issue  in  a  presidential  campaign. 

The  country  was  prepared  for  a  close  contest ;  hardly  for  the 
condition  of  affairs  that  followed  the  election.  For  when  the 
returns  were  made  from  the  various  States,  it  was  found  that 
each  party  claimed  the  victory.  This  was  owing  to  the  fact 
that  in  Florida,  Louisiana,  and  South  Carolina  the  result  was 


CHAP.  VIII  JOHNSON   AND   GRANT  435 


in  doubt.  These  were  the  States  still  controlled  by  reconstruc- 
tion governments ;  and  these  governments  insisted  that  the 
returning  boards,  which  announced  the  result  of  an  election, 
should  have  the  right  to  throw  out  all  votes  which  they  con- 
sidered improperly  cast.  The  excuse  for  this  action  was  that 
there  was  much  fraud  at  the  polls,  because  the  whites  took 
possession  of  them  in  certain  counties,  and  either  rejected  the 
negro  vote,  or  cast  enough  dishonest  votes  to  put  it  in  a  minor- 
ity. And  this  excuse  had  abundant  justification  in  fact.  Uuth 
by  intimidation  and  by  fraud  the  whites  in  the  South  prevented 
the  negro  vote  from  outnumbering  their  own.  But  it  was  a 
grave  question  whether  the  arbitrary  conduct  of  the  return- 
ing boards  were  not  a  greater  evil  than  imfairness  at  the  polls. 
For  in  a  close  national  election  the  few  men  who  constituted 
the  returning  board  in  a  doubtful  State  had  it  in  their  power 
to  decide  the  result  of  the  contest.  Thus  they  were  under  a 
powerful  temptation  to  forget  justice  in  the  interests  of  party. 

The  returning  boards  of  South  Carolina,  Florida,  and 
Louisiana  gave  the  vote  of  their  States  to  the  Republican 
electors.  But  the  Democrats  claimed  that  they  had  carried 
each  of  these  States  and  that  the  action  of  the  returning 
boards  was  illegal.  Thus  a  dispute  arose  Avhich  it  was 
extremely  difficult  to  settle.  For  no  one  had  the  right  to 
decide  whether  the  Republican  or  the  Democratic  electors  had 
been  chosen  in  the  doubtful  States.  But  trouble  was  avoided 
by  the  appointment  of  a  special  Electoral  Commission.  l>oth 
Houses  of  Congress  agreed  that  a  board  of  fifteen  members 
should  be  chosen  to  decide  all  disputed  questions  that  had 
arisen  in  connection  with  the  election.  Five  members  were  to 
be  chosen  by  the  Senate;  five  by  the  House;  and  five  from 
the  Supreme  Bench  of  the  United  States.  The  decisions  of 
the  Board  were  to  be  final,  unless  both  Houses  should  agree  to 
set  them  aside ;  and  as  the  Senate  was  Republican  while  the 
House  was  Democratic,  such  an  agreement  was  practically 
impossible. 

The  Senate  chose  three  Republicans  and  two  Democrats  to 
sit  on  the  Board ;  the  House  chose  three  Democrats  and  two 
Republicans.  The  Justices  were  to  be  appointed  by  seniority  ; 
and  it  was  expected  that  two  of  them  would  be  Republicans, 
two  Democrats,   and  oiu',  David  Davis  of    Illinois,   an  Inde- 


436  THE   UNITED    STATES  book  hi 

pendent.  But  just  at  this  juncture  Judge  Davis  was  chosen 
United  States  Senator  by  the  legislature  of  Illinois,  and  the 
Justice  who  by  right  of  seniority  now  served  in  his  place  on 
the  Board  was  not  an  Independent,  but  a  Republican.  So  the 
Republicans  now  had  a  majority  of  one  in  the  Electoral 
Commission. 

Small  as  this  majority  was,  it  was  sufficient  to  give  the 
election  to  Hayes.  For  the  members  of  the  Commission  voted 
for  their  own  party  on  nearly  every  question  that  came  before 
theih.  South  Carolina,  Florida,  and  Louisiana  were  counted  as 
Republican  States,  and  Hayes  thus  received  185  votes  in  the 
Electoral  College  to  Tilden's  184. 

The  result  was  a  bitter  disappointment  to  the  Democrats. 
They  had  originally  been  more  heartily  in  favor  of  the  Elec- 
toral Commission  than  the  Republicans ;  for  they  had  fully 
expected  Judge  Davis  to  be  one  of  its  members,  and  they  had 
felt  sure  that  he  would  consider  the  action  of  the  returning 
boards  illegal.  In  that  event  the  doubtful  States  would 
have  been  pronounced  Democratic,  and  Tilden,  not  Hayes, 
would  have  received  185  electoral  votes.  But  the  Democrats 
quietly  accepted  the  verdict  of  the  Commission.  Hayes  was 
inaugurated  without  opposition,  though  some  never  ceased  to 
maintain  that  he  was  not  lawfully  elected. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE   ADMINISTRATIONS    OF    HAYES,    GARFIELD,    AND    ARTHUR 

Rutherford  B.  Hayes  was  born  in  Ohio  in  1822.  A 
lawyer  by  profession,  he  abandoned  his  practice  to  serve  in  the 
Union  army,  and  rose  to  the  rank  of  brevet  major  general  by 
his  efficiency  and  gallantry.  At  the  close  of  the  war  he  was 
elected  to  the  oSlational  House  of  Representatives.  In  1867  he 
was  chosen  Governor  of  his  own  State,  was  reelected  in  1869, 
and  was  again  chosen  in  1875.  A  man  of  rare  purity  of  purpose, 
he  gave  the  country  an  excellent  administration.  He  selected 
a  Cabinet  of  very  able  men ;  his  foreign  appointments  were 
unusually  good.  All  the  branches  of  government  were  effi- 
ciently managed,  though  the  civil  service  suffered  from  the 
vicious  system  of  giving  the  victor  the  spoils.  So  great  were 
the  evils  of  this  system,  which  Jackson  had  inaugurated,  that 
Civil  Service  Reform  now  became  an  important  national 
question.  Already  was  it  becoming  apparent  that  the  habit  of 
awarding  office  in  return  for  party  service  was  corrupting  the 
jnorals  of  the  nation.  But  it  was  a  habit  not  easily  mended, 
for  it  was  highly  approved  by  the  politicians  of  both  parties. 
Only  by  long  years  of  agitation  was  the  sentiment  of  the 
country  so  aroused  against  this  abuse  that  Congress  was 
obliged  to  remedy  it. 

The  Treasury  Department  was  conducted  with  conspicuous 
ability  under  President  Hayes  by  Secretary  Sherman.  This 
skilful  financier  refunded  the  national  debt  at  a  much  lower 
rate  of  interest  than  had  previously  been  paid;  and  in  1879 
he  brought  about  the  resumption  of  specie  payments,  (lold 
was  no  longer  at  a  premium.  The  national  finances  now 
seemed  to  be  in  a  thoroughly  sound  condition.  The  yearly 
income  exceeded  the  expenditure  by  as  much  as  $100, 000,000, 
and  this  surplus   was  used  in  paying  off  the  national  debt. 

437 


438  THE   UNITED   STATES  book  hi 

About  the  same  time  that  specie  payments  were  resumed  the 
financial  panic  which  had  begun  in  1873  ceased  to  be  felt. 
Money  became  plentiful ;  commercial  enterprises  flourished. 
American  wheat  was  extensively  demanded  in  Europe,  and  it 
commanded  a  high  price ;  so  the  farmers  of  the  country  were 
prosperous.  Moreover,  new  inventions  enormously  increased 
the  capital  of  the  country.  In  particular,  electricity  began  to 
be  applied  to  the  arts  and  conveniences  of  life.  The  telephone 
made  business  operations  more  easy  and  simple.  Electric  light- 
ing and  electric  motors  were  soon  to  come  into  general  use. 

But  with  the  rapid  growth  of  wealth  new  and  troublesome 
questions  arose.  The  wage-earning  class  grew  dissatisfied  as 
it  saw  large  fortunes  acquired  by  a  few,  while  many  had  only 
a  bare  subsistence.  Not  that  wages  were  low  in  the  United 
States.  On  the  contrary,  the  laboring  class  was  able  to  live 
in  comfort.  If  there  was  occasional  distress  when  times  were 
hard,  it  was  not  long  continued  or  widespread.  Many,  it  is 
true,  suffered  from  the  keenness  of  business  competition. 
Some  industries  coiild  only  be  carried  on  at  a  profit  by  allow- 
ing the  most  meagre  wages  to  employees.  But  on  the  whole 
the  condition  of  the  workingman  in  the  United  States  was  a 
prosperous  one. 

This,  however,  the  workinginan  himself  was  not  inclined  to 
admit.  Not  his  comparative  comfort,  but  his  comparative 
poverty,  impressed  him.  He  saw  many  who  were  poorer  than 
himself,  but  he  also  saw  many  who  were  very  much  richer 
than  himself.  Hence  he  was  always  inclined  to  resist  a  reduc- 
tion of  wages,  and  the  strike  was  his  favorite  means  of  defend- 
ing himself  against  what  he  considered  the  tyrannical  exactions 
of  wealthy  corporations.  In  1877  there  was  a  very  widespread 
strike  of  the  railroad  employees  in  the  West,  as  the  result  of 
an  attempt  to  reduce  their  wages.  As  the  strikers  were 
unwilling  that  other  men  should  take  their  vacant  places,  they 
resorted  to  violence,  and  were  only  put  down  by  the  soldiery. 
Riots  occurred  in  St.  Louis,  Chicago,  and  other  cities,  and 
property  worth  millions  of  dollars  was  destroyed.  It  was 
some  two  weeks  after  the  first  outbreak  before  order  was 
restored.  This  riotous  movement  was  not  merely  serious  in 
itself ;  it  was  significant  of  the  feeling  of  the  workingmen. 
It  gave  evidence  of  a  growing  revolt  against  the  power  of 


CHAP.  IX  HAYES,  GARFIELD,   AND  ARTHUR  439 

capital.  Nor  was  this  revolt  a  blind  and  unreasoning  one. 
Only  two  years  after  the  great  strike  there  appeared  a  remark- 
able book  entitled  "  Progress  and  Poverty,"  which  was  a 
forcible  and  impassioned  argument  against  one  form  of  prop- 
erty holding.  The  author,  Henry  George,  was  himself  a  work- 
ingman.  Impressed  by  the  sufferings  of  his  own  class,  he  had 
made  a  careful  study  of  the  causes  of  poverty,  and  had  con- 
cluded they  were  all  to  be  traced  to  the  individual  ownership 
of  land.  So  to  his  mind  progress  was  synonymous  with  land 
communism.  Naturally,  his  theories  did  not  hud  favor  with 
property  holders,  nor  have  they  been  accepted  by  the  most 
eminent  students  of  political  economy.  Yet  they  have  made 
many  converts,  not  only  among  workingmen,  but  among 
thoughtful  and  highly  educated  people.  The  "  Single  Tax  " 
movement,  as  Mr.  George's  would-be  reform  is  designated,  has 
grown  into  a  well-organized  effort  to  revolutionize  society. 
Its  success  seems  remote  and  improbable,  but  its  champions 
lose  none  of  their  zeal  and  earnestness  in  the  face  of  discour- 
agement. 

Another  movement  that  began  during  Hayes's  administration 
proved  ultimately  to  spring  from  the  same  roots  as  the  single 
tax  idea,  for  it  was  at  this  time  that  the  silver  question 
attracted  general  attention.  In  1873  Congress  had  once  more 
given  its  attention  to  the  coinage  question,  and  had  voted  to 
coin  no  more  silver  dollars.  At  first  the  action  excited  little 
comment,  for  it  was  not  taken  without  good  reason.  The 
yearly  output  of  the  silver  mines  was  increasing;  silver  was 
becoming  less  valuable  than  it  had  been ;  the  dollar  coined 
from  it  was  no  longer  worth  a  dollar  in  gold.  So  Congress 
decided  to  retire  the  silver  dollar  from  circulation,  and  to 
make  debts  payable  only  in  gold.  Other  nations  had  taken 
this  stand.  Unless  the  United  States  followed  their  example, 
these  nations  would  be  likely  to  send  their  silver  to  America, 
where  a  demand  for  it  still  existed. 

But  it  is  hard  for  the  general  public  to  understand  the  laws 
of  finance.  To  the  untrained  mind  it  appeared  that  the 
demonetization  of  silver  was  an  injustice  to  the  poor  and  a 
benefit  to  the  rich.  In  reality  it  helped  the  poor  much  more 
than  it  did  the  rich;  for  if  silver  crowded  out  gold,  and  a 
dollar  worth  only  ninety  cents  became  the  unit  of  value,  the 


440  THE   UNITED   STATES  book  hi 

"workingmen,  as  having  the  narrowest  incomes,  would  feel  the 
depreciation  most  keenly.  But  this  was  not  understood  by 
the  people.  It  was  believed  that  the  law  of  1873  was  framed 
in  the  interest  of  the  bondholders,  who  by  means  of  it  were 
enabled  to  exact  payment  in  gold.  Hence  there  arose  a  gen- 
eral demand  that  silver  should  once  more  be  put  in  circulation. 
Congress  bowed  to  the  demand ;  and  thus  the  people,  with 
their  ignorance  of  financial  laws,  began  to  assume  control  over 
financial  legislation.  That  this  is  one  of  the  inevitable  results 
of  democracy  must  be  admitted ;  but  it  is  a  result  that  brings 
with  it  long  periods  of  stagnation  in  business  and  frequent 
menace  to  the  material  prosperity  of  the  country.  Accord- 
ingly, in  1878,  it  was  voted  in  Congress  by  an  overwhelming 
majority  that  the  silver  dollar  should  be  coined  again,  and 
should  be  legal  tender,  the  men  of  both  parties  uniting  to 
bring  about  this  result.  The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  was 
instructed  to  coin  not  less  than  two  million  dollars  a  month, 
and  gradually  vast  stores  of  this  bulky  coin  were  accumulated 
in  the  Government's"  vaults.  IS'evertheless  the  price  of  silver 
fell  steadily,  so  great  was  the  quantity  produced,  until  the 
silver  dollar  came  to  be  worth  hardly  more  than  half  its  face 
value  and  threatened  to  drive  gold  out  of  circulation. 

Yet  in  face  of  these  facts  the  people  believed  in  it  still. 
Even  though  they  disliked  to  carry  it  about  in  their  pockets, 
they  regarded  it  with  affection  as  the  poor  man's  dollar.  To 
them  it  represented  cheap  and  abundant  money.  The  attempt 
to  drive  it  out  of  circulation  they  regarded  as  a  nefarious 
scheme  of  the  wealthy  classes,  whose  interests  were  identical 
with  those  of  gold,  while  silver  was  the  friend  of  the  working- 
man.  In  short,  the  poorer  classes  demanded  the  silver  dollar 
in  the  same  spirit  that  they  demanded  a  more  equal  distribu- 
tion of  wealth,  government  ownership  of  land,  and  legislation 
against  capital  and  rich  corporations. 

All  this  was  not  apparent  when  the  agitation  in  favor  of 
silver  was  first  started.  Indeed,  President  Hayes's  administra- 
tion was  a  period  of  great  prosperity,  and  its  true  significance 
was  not  understood.  What  the  country  saw  was  that  bayonet 
rule  was  brought  to  an  end  in  the  South  and  the  reconstruction 
governments  were  thus  allowed  to  collapse ;  the  public  debt 
was  rapidly  paid  off ;  specie  payments  were  resumed ;  business 


CHAP.  IX  HAYES,  GARFIELD,  AND  ARTHUR  441 

confidence  was  restored;  Indian  affairs  were  justly  managed 
by  Mr.  Schurz  as  Secretary  of  the  Interior ;  and  foreign  gold 
flowed  freely  into  the  country,  owing  to  the  extensive  export 
trade.  Even  shrewd  students  and  observers  were  misled  by 
the  prosperous  appearance  of  the  country.  Mr.  Schurz  in  a 
public  address  congratulated  his  hearers  on  the  smooth  and 
favorable  course  of  national  affairs,  which  he  contrasted  with 
England's  difficulties  over  the  Irish  question  and  over  the 
impoverishment  of  the  farming  class.  Nor  were  there,  indeed, 
any  movements  beneath  the  surface  which  should  have  excited 
serious  apprehension  even  had  they  been  understood.  No  troubles 
were  developing  that  the  nation  could  not  meet  and  overcome. 
But  the  troubles  were  there.  They  were  taking  shape  all 
through  President  Hayes's  excellent  administration  of  affairs. 
Before  long  they  were  to  appear  formidable  and  to  put  the 
strength  of  the  nation  to  new  and  searching  tests.  Hence,  to 
the  political  student  the  administration  of  Hayes  will  always 
be  a  period  of  peculiar  interest. 

President  Hayes  was  not  renominated  by  his  party,  as  he 
had  not  made  himself  popular  with  the  politicians.  In  the 
National  Repiiblican  Convention  in  1880,  ex-President  Grant 
had  a  large  and  devoted  following,  while  Mr.  Blaine's  friends 
were  active  and  hopeful ;  but  the  choice  finally  fell  upon  James 
A.  Garfield  of  Ohio,  Chester  A.  Arthur  of  New  York  receiving 
the  nomination  for  the  vice-presidency.  The  Democrats,  to 
vindicate  their  loyalty  to  the  Union  and  to  conciliate  Northern 
sentiment,  nominated  for  the  presidency  Winfield  S.  Hancock 
of  New  York,  who  had  been  one  of  the  most  brilliant  and 
gallant  Union  generals  in  the  Civil  War.  The  second  place  on 
the  ticket  they  gave  to  William  H.  English  of  Indiana.  But 
this  attempt  to  win  Northern  votes  was  not  successful.  Han- 
cock had  no  political  training  or  experience,  and,  to  overcome 
this  deficiency,  he  had  not  Grant's  immense  popularity  with 
the  country.  His  candidacy  did  not  find  favor  in  the  North. 
In  the  Electoral  College  he  received  only  155  votes  against  214 
that  were  cast  for  Garfield. 

James  A.  Garfield  was  born  in  Ohio  in  1831.  Like  Hayes, 
he  was  a  lawyer  by  profession,  and  like  him  he  abandoned  the 
law  to  serve  first  in  the  Union  army  and  afterward  in  Congress. 
His  war  record  was  creditable,  as  he  attained  the  rank  of  major 


442  THE   UNITED   STATES  book  hi 

general.  In  Congress  he  showed  ready  power  in  debate  and 
became  one  of  the  foremost  Kepublican  leaders.  He  was  in 
the  House  of  Representatives  from  1863  to  1880 ;  but  at  the 
time  of  his  nomination  he  was  serving  in  the  Senate.  His 
ability  and  his  personal  integrity  made  the  country  look  for  an 
admirable  administration  of  affairs  during  his  term  of  office. 

But  in  the  short  time  that  Garfield  lived  after  his  inaugu- 
ration he  did  not  make  good  this  expectation.  The  demand  for 
civil  service  reform  was  not  yet  loud  or  general.  Garfield 
gave  a  very  faint-hearted  support  to  this  cause,  though  it  had 
been  indorsed  in  the  platform  in  Avhich  he  was  nominated.  He 
recognized  the  opponents  of  the  reform  in  choosing  his  Cabinet. 
He  awarded  office  as  a  return  for  party  service.  He  showed 
himself  an  astute  politician  rather  than  a  great  and  intrepid 
leader.  But  his  tragic  fate  made  the  country  forget  his  weak- 
nesses and  extol  his  virtues.  On  July  2,  1881,  only  four 
months  after  his  inauguration,  he  was  shot  by  a  man  whom  he 
had  refused  to  appoint  to  office  and  who  thirsted  for  notoriety 
and  vengeance.  For  nearly  three  months  the  injured  President 
clung  to  life,  but  the  wound  proved  mortal.  On  the  19th  of 
September  he  died  near  Long  Branch  in  'New  Jersey. 

Vice-President  Arthur,  who  succeeded  him,  had  not  had  a 
creditable  public  career.  As  collector  of  the  port  of  New  York 
he  had  affiliated  with  intriguing  politicians,  and  had  shown  no 
sympathy  Avith  reform  movements.  But  the  grave  responsi- 
bilities he  now  assumed  awoke  in  him  a  lofty  sense  of  duty. 
He  threw  off  unworthy  associates,  conducted  himself  with  rare 
dignity  and  discretion,  and  proved  an  able  and  upright  execu- 
tive. During  his  term  of  office  the  country  continued  to  be 
prosperous.  All  branches  of  industry  flourished,  and  there 
were  few  manifestations  of  discontent  among  the  poorer  classes. 
Under  these  favorable  conditions  the  resources  of  the  South 
began  to  be  rapidly  developed.  Northern  capital  found  its 
way  into  the  Southern  States.  New  railroads  were  constructed 
in  them,  factories  were  established,  mines  were  opened. 
Under  free  labor  the  South  was  beginning  to  build  up  a 
substantial  prosperity. 

Nor  was  the  progress  of  this  period  merely  material.  The 
shocking  death  of  Garfield  had  turned  the  attention  of  the 
country  to  the  corrupt  condition  of  its  civil  service.   Washington 


CHAP.  IX  HAYES,  Gx^KFlELD,  AND  ARTHUR  443 

was  thronged  with  office-seekers  at  every  presidential  inaugura- 
tion ;  and  it  was  one  of  these  office-seekers  who  had  assassinated 
the  late  President.  The  indignation  caused  by  the  act  gave 
the  friends  of  civil  service  reform  their  opportunity.  They 
succeeded  in  passing  through  Congress  a  law  which  empowered 
the  President  to  appoint  commissioners  to  examine  and  recom- 
mend candidates  for  office.  Thus  merit  and  not  zealous  politi- 
cal partisanship  was  to  establish  the  right  to  an  appointment. 
Unfortunately,  however,  there  remained  a  large  class  of  gov- 
ernment offices  outside  the  scope  of  the  law ;  and  those  officials 
to  whom  it  applied  were  not  to  retain  their  places  through  good 
behavior,  but  only  for  four  years.  So  the  victory  of  civil 
service  reform  was  by  no  means  complete.  Still,  a  victory  had 
been  gained. 

The  tariff  question  also  came  up  in  President  Arthur's 
administration.  The  scale  of  duties  adopted  during  the  Civil 
War  had  not  since  been  changed ;  and  with  the  growth  of  trade 
it  had  brought  very  large  returns  to  the  national  treasury.  So 
long  as  the  surplus  revenues  were  used  in  paying  off  the  na- 
tional debt,  this  condition  of  affairs  occasioned  no  difficulties. 
But  the  time  had  come  when  the  debt  could  not  be  much  further 
reduced.  For  when  Secretary  Sherman  had  carried  through  his 
refunding  scheme,  he  had  been  obliged  to  postpone  the  redemp- 
tion of  the  Government's  bonds  for  a  long  term  of  years  in  order 
to  dispose  of  them  at  a  lower  rate  of  interest.  Consequently, 
there  was  no  immediate  use  for  the  government  surplus ;  and  to 
prevent  it  from  accumulating  every  year  it  seemed  necessary  to 
reduce  the  revenue.  The  natural  way  to  do  this  was  to  lower 
the  duties  on  imports.  So  a  new  tariff  law  was  passed  by 
Congress  in  1883,  but  it  did  not  accomplish  the  end  desired. 
The  duties  were  only  slightly  reduced,  and  the  Republicans 
strongly  objected  to  a  further  reduction.  The  Democrats,  on 
the  other  hand,  were  earnestly  opposed  to  a  high  tariff,  as  they 
had  been  during  Jackson's  administration.  So  protection  be- 
came once  more  a  prominent  political  question.  For  a  num- 
ber of  years  it  obscured  all  other  interests  and  divided  the  two 
great  parties.  It  was  the  paramount  political  issue  in  the 
presidential  campaign  of  1884. 

Put  after  the  nominations  were  made  in  that  year,  the  plat- 
forms of  the  two  great  parties  were  wellnigh  forgotten  in  the 


444  THE    UNITED   STATES  book  hi 

vigorous  and  abusive  warfare  tLat  was  waged  against  the  per- 
sonal characters  of  the  two  presidential  candidates.  Mr.  Blaine 
was  nominated  by  the  Republicans,  to  the  delight  of  his  nu- 
merous and  enthusiastic  admirers.  The  Democrats  put  forward 
Grover  Cleveland,  who  had  shown  integrity  and  fearlessness 
as  mayor  of  Buffalo,  and  as  Governor  of  New  York.  The 
friends  of  civil  service  reform  had  watched  his  career  with 
interest  and  urged  his  name  for  the  presidency.  As  candidates 
for  Vice-President  the  Republicans  selected  John  A.  Logan  of 
Illinois,  and  the  Democrats  Thomas  A.  Hendricks  of  Indiana. 
But  scarcely  were  the  nominations  made  when  the  warfare  of 
recrimination  began.  Mr.  Blaine  was  accused  of  official  cor- 
ruption ;  while  Mr.  Cleveland's  private  character  was  attacked. 
Each  party  declared  that  the  nation  would  be  disgraced  if  the 
candidate  of  the  other  party  should  be  elected.  But  the  truth 
of  the  charges  cannot  be  here  considered.  They  are  mentioned 
as  showing  that  political  contests  in  the  United  States  easily 
degenerate  into  vituperation ;  and  yet  that  the  good  sense  of 
the  country  condemns  such  methods  of  warfare.  For  since 
1884  the  personal  characters  of  the  presidential  candidates 
have  not  been  assailed.  The  national  elections  have  been  con- 
ducted with  dignity,  moderation,  and  fairness.  One  virulent 
and  acrimonious  campaign  sufficed  the  nation. 

The  election  was  closely  contested  and  was  decided  by  the 
Independent  vote.  Many  Republicans  voted  for  the  Demo- 
cratic candidates,  because  they  disliked  the  high  tariff  policy 
of  their  party  and  because  they  distrusted  Mr.  Blaine.  So  the 
movement  which  had  resulted  in  the  unfortunate  nomination  of 
Horace  Greeley  in  1872  now  achieved  a  signal  success.  It 
placed  a  reform  leader  in  the  White  House.  For,  by  carrying 
the  State  of  New  York,  Mr.  Cleveland  secured  the  presidency. 
He  received  219  votes  in  the  Electoral  College  out  of  401. 


CHAPTER   X 

THE    ADMINISTRATI02SrS    OF    CLEVELAND,    HARRISON,    AND 

MCKINLEY 

Grover  Cleveland  was  born  in  New  Jersey  in  1837.  In 
1855  he  settled  in  Butt'alo,  New  York,  and  was  there  admitted 
to  the  bar  in  1859.  Elected  mayor  of  the  city  in  1881  by  an 
overwhelming  majority,  he  excited  admiration  by  his  fearless 
exercise  of  the  power  of  veto.  This  same  independence  he 
showed  as  Governor  of  the  State.  It  was  therefore  confidently 
expected  that  as  President  he  wonld  resist  the  unprincipled 
politicians  of  his  party  and  would  further  the  cause  of  civil 
service  reform. 

But  President  Cleveland's  position  was  a  peculiarly  trying 
one.  When  he  assumed  office,  the  Republicans  had  been  in 
power  for  nearly  twenty -five  years.  During  that  time  they  had 
filled  all  the  public  offices  with  their  own  partisans,  and  too 
often  these  offices  had  been  used  in  the  interests  of  party. 
The  Democrats  therefore  deemed  it  grossly  unfair  that  they 
should  now  be  excluded  from  office  by  the  new  civil  service 
law,  just  as  they  had,  after  long  waiting,  succeeded  in  carrying 
a  national  election.  They  demanded  that  President  Cleveland 
should  dismiss  the  Republican  office-holders,  and  give  their 
places  to  the  men  of  his  own  political  creed.  This  demand  the 
President  resisted.  He  announced  that  he  would  only  remove 
offensive  partisans,  and  for  a  time  he  lived  up  to  this  principle. 
But  gradually  he  gave  way  to  party  pressure.  The  RepiU)li- 
cans  were  slowly  and  quietly  dismissed,  and  only  a  small 
parcentage  of  them  remained  in  office  at  the  end  of  the  admin- 
istration. Apparently  President  Cleveland  regarded  civil  service 
reform  as  secondary  to  the  tariff  question.  Desiring  to  keep 
his  hold  upon  his  party  and  to  dominate  its  counsels,  he  sacri- 
ficed for  the  time  being  a  cause  which  the  Democratic  politi- 
cians did  not  regard  with  favor. 

445 


446  THE   UNITED   STATES  book  iir 

But  in  the  use  of  the  veto  President  Cleveland  was  uncom- 
promising and  fearless.  He  would  give  his  sanction  to  no  legis- 
lation that  did  not  command  his  hearty  approval.  Pension 
bills  in  particular  he  vetoed  with  an  unsparing  hand,  and  in  so 
doing  he  rendered  the  country  valuable  service.  Por  the  pen- 
sion system  was  growing  to  be  an  evil.  Neither  party  was 
willing  to  resist  the  demand  for  pensions,  through  fear  of 
offending  the  veterans  who  had  served  in  the  Union  army  and 
losing  their  vote.  So  the  amount  granted  for  pensions  was 
increased  year  by  year,  and  was  gradually  absorbing  the  sur- 
plus revenues  of  the  Government.  Indeed,  the  time  was 
approaching  when  income  would  not  meet  expenses. 

The  discontent  of  the  laboring  classes,  which  had  manifested 
itself  during  Hayes's  administration,  broke  out  anew  under 
President  Cleveland.  For  the  prosperous  years  that  had  fol- 
lowed the  long  financial  disturbance  of  the  seventies  had  by  no 
means  put  an  end  to  the  dissatisfaction  of  the  workingmen. 
Encouraged  by  German  Socialists  who  had  settled  in  this  coun- 
try, and  by  other  mischievous  leaders,  they  had  cherished  their 
resentment  toward  the  wealthy  classes  through  the  days  of  good 
wages  and  plentiful  occupation.  Through  trade-unions  and 
other  organizations  they  encouraged  strikes,  intimidated  cor- 
porations and  demanded  a  new  and  more  equitable  distribution 
of  wealth ;  and  so  insistent  were  their  demands  in  the  earlier 
years  of  President  Cleveland's  administration,  that  they  forced 
the  labor  question  upon  the  attention  of  the  country.  It  was 
in  recognition  of  their  claims  that  Congress  passed  the  Contract 
Labor  Act  in  1885,  the  object  of  which  was  to  prevent  the  pro- 
moters of  large  enterprises  from  importing  cheap  labor  from 
Europe.  And  Chinese  immigration,  which  had  been  partially 
checked  in  1880,  was  now  still  further  restricted.  To  the 
laborers  of  California  the  presence  of  the  Chinese  had  long 
been  a  grievance.  Por  these  clever  and  industrious  Mongolians 
gave  skilled  labor  for  low  wages.  ISTor  was  Chinese  immigration 
alone  objected  to  in  Congi'css.  An  attempt  was  made  to  stem 
the  tide  of  ignorant  and  impoverished  peasants  that  was  con- 
stantly pouring  into  the  country  from  Europe.  But  at  this 
time  nothing  was  accomplished  in  that  direction.  More  suc- 
cessful was  the  endeavor  to  bring  the  railroads  under  control, 
for  the  Interstate  Commerce  Act  was  passed  by  Congress  in 


CHAP.  X       CLEVELAND,    HARRISON,    AND   McKINLEY  447 

1887.  It  was  aimed  against  railroad  practices  which  were 
considered  unjust,  and  it  forbade  those  roads  which  extended 
through  more  than  one  State  to  make  unfair  distinctions  in 
their  freight  and  passenger  charges.  Thus  the  old  Federalist 
interpretation  of  the  Constitution  seemed  to  gain  in  favor,  and 
in  accordance  with  this  interpretation  the  Government  was 
continually  assuming  new  authority  to  meet  new  conditions 
and  emergencies.  But  it  was  not  doing  this  without  exciting 
criticism  from  those  who  still  held  to  the  creed  of  the  old  Anti- 
Federalist  party.  For  the  thinkers  of  this  school  believe  that, 
in  exercising  control  over  trade,  the  Government  is  exceeding 
its  just  and  constitutional  rights.  They  think  that  trade  should 
work  out  its  own  laws  quite  unrestricted,  and  that  Government 
cannot  interfere  with  these  laws  without  causing  gross  injus- 
tice. The  attempt  to  control  them  always  springs  from  the 
desire  to  protect  one  class  of  citizens  against  another,  and  thus 
leads  the  legislators  of  the  country  into  making  dangerous  dis- 
criminations and  into  strengthening  corrupt  political  tendencies. 
For  if  the  protective  theory  is  once  established,  every  class  has 
a  right  to  claim  advantage  from  it.  It  cannot  be  used  solely 
to  benefit  the  poor  and  the  victims  of  competition.  If  their 
condition  is  bettered  by  it,  the  rich  will  also  demand  that  it  be 
exerted  in  their  behalf.  More  than  this,  they  will  bring  the 
tremendous  power  and  influence  of  capital  to  bear  upon  State 
legislatures  and  upon  the  national  Congress  in  order  to  secure 
the  passage  of  such  measures  as  they  desire.  Subjected  to 
such  pressure,  legislators  lose  their  sense  of  responsibility. 
They  ignore  the  true  interests  of  their  constituents,  wrangle 
over  ill-advised  and  iniquitous  schemes,  and  promote  the  growth 
of  the  lobby.  State  legislatures  are  at  times  swayed  by  giant 
monopolies,  and  again  are  roused  to  a  fierce  warfare  on  the 
owners  of  property ;  while  Congress  is  distracted  by  the  noisy 
claims  of  conflicting  influences.  In  particular,  whenever  a  new 
tariff  law  is  framed,  the  representatives  of  the  various  indus- 
tries gather  at  Washington,  and  all  demand  extravagant  duties 
on  the  products  they  manufacture  or  produce  from  the  soil. 
Bvit  it  is  found  that  even  in  granting  the  demands  of  some 
interests,  the  interests  of  others  are  seriously  injured.  So  great 
perplexity  arises. 

Such  are  the  arguments  of  those  who  oppose  the  protective 


448  THE   UNITED   STATES  book  hi 

theory  of  government.  They  are  sound  and  forcible  argu- 
ments ;  they  will  always  be  employed  against  government 
paternalism ;  they  will  always  be  needed  when  centralization 
grows  overweeningly  arrogant  and  aggressive.  But  it  is  safe 
to  say  they  will  not  convince  the  people.  In  this  day  and  time 
it  is  impossible  to  restrict  the  functions  of  the  Government  to 
levying  taxes  and  spending  them  judiciously,  as  the  early  Anti- 
Federalists  desired.  For  a  hundred  years  the  very  existence 
of  the  nation  has  been  dependent  upon  material  prosperity. 
The  development  of  the  country's  resources,  the  use  of  labor- 
saving  machines,  the  spread  of  railways,  the  multiplication  of 
devices  for  subduing  the  forces  of  nature,  have  all  promoted 
the  growth  of  the  nation  and  given  it  community  of  thought 
and  feeling.  Through  coal,  through  the  steam-engine,  and 
through  electrical  inventions,  the  people  of  the  country  are 
made  independent,  and  become,  as  it  were,  the  partners  in  one 
gigantic  enterprise.  Without  the  help  of  modern  science  they 
could  not  have  a  common  political  experience  and  common 
commercial  interests. 

Thus  legislation  has  inevitably  concerned  itself  with  the 
forces  that  have  contributed  to  the  nation's  growth.  It  has 
extended  its  jurisdiction  over  factories,  roads,  canals,  railways, 
patents,  and  even  over  trade  itself.^  For  a  long  period,  indeed, 
its  object  was  to  promote  commerce,  manufactures,  industries, 
and  invention.  By  a  protective  tariff  it  stimulated  domestic 
manufactures.  By  securing  ample  rights  to  proprietors  it 
helped  the  growth  of  railroads  and  other  highways,  and  encour- 
aged inventive  genius.  But,  having  once  taken  these  branches 
of  human  enterprise  under  its  fostering  care  and  established 
its  right  to  supervise  and  control  them,  legislation  proceeded 
to  curtail  and  cripple  them  when  it  felt  that  they  were  growing 
dangerous.  As  capital  increased  enormously  and  fortunes  grew 
to  colossal  size,  the  people  became  afraid  of  the  power  of 
money.  Trusts  began  to  be  extensively  formed  during  Presi- 
dent Cleveland's  administration,  and  caused  much  adverse 
criticism.  It  was  quite  generally  believed  that  they  kept 
prices  high  by  preventing  competition.  Whether  trusts  pro- 
diice  such  a  result  may  be  questioned.  If  they  check  competi- 
tion, they  also  promote  economical  methods  of  putting  articles 

1  Atlantic  Monthly,  81 :  120. 


CHAP.  X       CLEVELAND,    HARRISON,   AND   McKINLEY  449 


on  the  market.  But  the  people  viewed  these  gigantic  opera- 
tions with  alarm,  and  they  also  became  hostile  to  great  corpo- 
rations which  they  saw  acquiring  enormous  influence  and 
attempting  to  control  legislation.  They  concluded  that  capital 
was  becoming  a  foe  to  democracy,  and  many  were  persuaded 
that  the  accumulation  of  wealth  should  be  entirely  prevented. 
Hence  the  last  two  decades  of  the  century  have  witnessed  a 
vigorous  and  persistent  war  upon  capital.  Both  Congress  and 
State  legislatures  have  passed  numerous  laws  designed  to  check 
the  increase  of  private  and  corporate  wealth.  The  State  is 
asserting  itself  against  the  individual.  State  socialism  is  still 
far  away,  but  it  is  slowly  gaining  ground.  The  poor  man  is 
jealous  of  the  millionnaire.  Unable  to  contend  with  so  powerful 
an  adversary,  he  invokes  the  aid  of  the  State.  The  State  lis- 
tens to  his  demands  and  voices  them  in  its  statutes.  So  cor- 
porate privileges  are  restricted,  large  dividends  are  forbidden, 
double  taxation  is  allowed,  and  town  and  city  governments 
are  empowered  to  acquire  control  of  corporate  enterprises  on 
very  low  terms. 

It  is  therefore  folly  to  suppose  that  the  Government  will  let 
trade  alone.  Its  tendency  is  to  exercise  a  fuller  authority 
over  the  commercial  world.  In  doing  this,  it  becomes  guilty 
of  glaring  inconsistencies  and  it  makes  egregious  blunders. 
The  wisdom  of  the  Government  is  the  wisdom  of  the  politi- 
cians ;  the  politicians  obey  the  popular  will ;  and  the  popular 
will  is  a  very  unenlightened  will  on  questions  of  taxation, 
finance,  and  political  economy.  Or,  again,  the  politicians  obey 
their  own  selfish  will,  and  make  laws  in  the  interests  of  corrupt 
rings  and  ambitious  party  demagogues.  Hence  we  see  the 
most  absurd  contradictions  in  the  legislation  of  the  day.  Gov- 
ernment smites  the  rich  with  its  right  hand  and  raises  them 
up  with  its  left.  It  helps  the  poor  to  their  feet  and  then  fells 
them  to  the  earth.  By  coining  vast  stores  of  silver  dollars,  it 
enriched  the  owners  of  silver  mines  at  the  expense  of  the  rest 
of  the  nation.  By  refusing  to  retire  the  greenbacks,  it  causes 
a  general  financial  uneasiness,  makes  capital  timid,  and  de- 
prives labor  of  the  means  of  support  it  gets  from  large  business 
enterprises.  And  by  an  unscientific  tariff  it  puts  a  needless 
burden  on  rich  and  poor  alike.  Nor  will  such  absurdities  of 
legislation  altogether  disappear  with  added  and  riper  experi- 
2g 


450  THE   UNITED   STATES  book  hi 

ence.  The  problems  of  modern  statecraft  are  excessively  diffi- 
cult. Democracy  cannot  solve  them.  The  best  that  it  can 
hope  to  do  is  to  attain  to  a  more  enlightened  form  of  govern- 
ment than  has  been  known  under  the  rule  of  a  privileged  few. 
Its  mistakes  are  sometimes  very  foolish;  its  basis  of  activity 
is  sound.  For  it  proceeds  upon  the  supposition  that  all  men 
have  equal  rights. 

As  the  presidential  campaign  of  1888  drew  near,  President 
Cleveland,  to  the  dismay  of  the  Democratic  politicians,  forced 
his  party  to  advocate  a  reduction  in  the  tariff.  His  last  mes- 
sage to  Congress  contained  a  bold  and  uncompromising  utter- 
ance against  high  tariff  duties ;  and,  as  the  Democratic  party 
had  always  been  an  opponent  of  protection,  it  could  not  now 
ignore  the  opinions  of  its  leading  statesman.  It  renominated 
Mr.  Cleveland,  associating  with  him  Allen  G.  Thurman  of 
Ohio,  and  it  indorsed  the  President's  views  upon  the  tariff. 
The  Republicans  nominated  Benjamin  Harrison  of  Indiana 
and  Levi  P.  Morton  of  New  York.  The  policy  of  protection 
received  the  fullest  support  in  their  platform.  So  the  tariff 
question  was  fairly  before  the  country.  Measures,  not  men, 
were  discussed  in  the  political  campaign  that  now  followed. 
The  voters  of  the  nation  Avere  now  to  decide  between  tariff  for 
revenue  and  tariff  for  protection. 

They  decided  in  favor  of  protection,  the  result  of  the  elec- 
tion hinging,  as  in  1884,  upon  the  vote  of  New  York.  This 
State  gave  Harrison  and  Morton  a  small  majority  and  accom- 
plished the  defeat  of  Cleveland.  For  the  latter  would  have 
had  a  majority  of  seven  in  the  Electoral  College  if  New 
York's  thirty-six  votes  had  been  cast  in  his  favor.  The  Pro- 
hibitionists had  also  made  nominations,  but  their  candidates 
received  no  electoral  votes. 

President  Harrison,  wdio  was  born  in  Ohio  in  1833,  was  a 
grandson  of  William  Henry  Harrison,  the  ninth  President  of 
the  United  States.  He  settled  in  Indianapolis  in  1854,  and 
successfully  practised  law  there  until  1862.  Joining  the  In- 
diana volunteers  with  a  second  lieutenant's  commission,  he 
was  promoted  for  brave  and  efficient  service  and  was  made 
brevet  brigadier  general  in  1865.  He  was  therefore  the  fourth 
military  general  elected  President  by  the  Republicans  since  the 
Civil  War.     He  returned  to  the  profession  of  law  at  the  close 


CHAP.  X        CLEVELAND,    HARRISON,   AND   McKINLEY  451 

of  the  war,  but  his  activity  brought  him  political  preferment, 
and  in  1881  he  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  United  States 
Senate.  Thus  his  legal,  military,  and  political  career  were 
highly  honorable.  As  President  he  showed  an  inclination  to 
indorse  the  legislation  of  his  party  and  not  to  make  an  exten- 
sive use  of  the  power  of  veto. 

The  most  important  matters  connected  with  his  administra- 
tion were  the  following :  — 

I.  A  new  silver  bill,  called  the  Sherman  Act,  was  passed  by 
Congress.  It  provided  that  4,500,000  ounces  of  silver  bullion 
should  be  purchased  by  the  treasury  every  month  and  made 
into  dollars.  For  this  coin  certificates  were  to  be  issued  which 
should  be  legal  tender  for  debts  public  and  private.  The  act 
was  passed  in  obedience  to  a  strong  and  growing  class  which 
advocated  the  free  coinage  of  silver;  but  its  effects  were  very 
unfortunate.  The  coinage  of  $2,000,000  a  month  under  the 
law  of  1878  had  not  caused  serious  disturbance,  owing  to  the 
steady  increase  in  the  volume  of  the  business  of  the  country. 
For,  as  business  expands,  a  corresponding  expansion  in  the 
currency  is  needed.  The  silver  dollar  itself  was  indeed  too 
bulky  a  coin  to  circulate  ;  but  by  issuing  silver  certificates  the 
treasury  was  able  to  make  the  silver  coinage  useful.  But 
after  the  Sherman  Act  went  into  operation,  the  volume  of 
currency  increased  far  faster  than  the  volume  of  business. 
And  meanwhile  silver  steadily  depreciated,  till  the  silver 
dollar  was  worth  hardly  more  than  half  of  its  face  value. 
So  silver,  the  cheaper  metal,  was  accumulated  in  the  treasury 
in  immense  quantities ;  gold,  the  dearer  metal,  was  continually 
drawn  from  the  treasury  for  foreign  exchange.  Hence  the 
cheaper  metal  was  threatening  to  drive  out  the  dearer.  Busi- 
ness was  becoming  stagnant  in  view  of  a  probable  change  in 
the  standard  of  value. 

II.  A  new  tariff  measure,  known  as  the  McKinley  Bill,  was 
passed  by  Congress.  This  was  a  natural  consequence  of  the 
Republican  triumph  in  the  national  election  ;  for  the  Republi- 
cans not  only  elected  their  presidential  candidate,  but  they 
also  secured  a  majority  in  the  Senate  and  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives. Hence  they  were  able  to  pass  a  tariff  law  Avhich 
fairly  expressed  the  Republican  theory  that  native  industries 
should  be  amply  protected  from  foreign  competition.       The 


452 


THE   UNITED   STATES 


BOOK    III 


McKinley  Bill  put  so  high  a  duty  on  foreign  products  as  vir- 
tually to  exclude  many  of  them  from  the  country.  Thus,  by 
diminishing  exports  and  by  putting  sugar  on  the  free  list,  the 
national  revenue  was  curtailed  by  about  $60,000,000.  And 
this  was  in  keeping  with  Republican  policy.  As  there  had 
for  a  considerable  time  been  a  yearly  surplus  in  the  national 
treasury,  and  this  surplus  could  not  now  be  used  in  redeeming 
the  government  bonds  which  had  not  yet  matured,  the  Repub- 
licans claimed  that  a  protective  tariff  performed  a  double  ser- 
vice. It  not  only  encouraged  domestic  manufactures,  but  it 
prevented  the  accumulation  of  an  undesirable  surplus.  And 
for  a  time  these  statements  seemed  to  be  justified  by  facts. 

III.  A  tendency  to  extravagant  expenditure  began  to  mani- 
fest itself  in  Congress.  The  pension  list  was  greatly  increased 
by  a  bill  granting  eight  dollars  a  month  to  every  veteran  over 
sixty  years  old  who  had  served  in  the  Union  army  during  the 
Civil  War. 

By  this  provision  the  amount  yearly  spent  on  pensions 
reached  in  1893  the  figure  of  $160,000,000.  The  naval  appro- 
priation was,  not  without  reason,  made  more  ample,  in  order  to 
provide  for  the  construction  of  new  cruisers.  Large  sums 
were  allowed  for  improving  rivers  and  harbors ;  and  in  many 
ways  the  grants  of  public  money  were  unnecessarily  large.  As 
a  result  of  this  extravagance,  the  annual  expenditure  crept 
gradually  toward  the  total  of  $400,000,000.  Before  President 
Harrison's  administration  came  to  an  end,  the  revenues  of  the 
Government  hardly  exceeded  its  expenses.^  Nor  was  this  con- 
dition of  affairs  in  itself  unfortunate.     It  was  well  that  no 

1  The  following  figures  show  how  revenues  diminished  and  expenditures 
increased,  until  the  latter  exceeded  the  former:  — 


Revenue 

Expenditure 

1890 

$403,080,983 

$297,736,487 

1891 

392,612,447 

365,773,905 

1892 

354,937,784 

345,023,331 

1893 

385,819,629 

383,477,955 

1894 

297,772,019 

367,525,280 

1895 

313,390,075 

356,195,298 

1896 

326,976,200 

352,179,446 

CHAP.  X        CLEVELAND,   HARRISON,    AND   McKINLEY  453 

surplus  should  exist  as  a  temptation  to  cupidity.  But  the  ten- 
dency toward  extravagant  expenditure  was  becoming  firmly 
fixed  in  the  minds  of  legislators,  and  was  destined  to  produce 
unhappy  results.  For,  even  when  income  shrank,  expenditure 
was  not  curtailed.  Congress  caught  the  spirit  of  extravagance 
which  wealth  and  prosperity  have  developed  in  the  American 
people. 

IV.  Reciprocity,  which  had  been  advocated  by  Mr.  Blaine, 
received  a  limited  and  partial  trial  while  the  McKinley  Bill 
was  in  operation.  By  one  of  the  provisions  of  that  measure, 
sugars  of  a  low  grade,  molasses,  coffee,  and  hides  were  to  be 
admitted  into  the  United  States  free  of  duty  unless  the  Presi- 
dent should  be  convinced  that  the  countries  producing  these 
articles  would  not  show  equal  favor  to  the  products  of  the  United 
States.  Several  Central  American  and  South  American  states, 
besides  some  in  Europe,  took  advantage  of  this  provision. 
But  the  merits  of  reciprocity  could  not  be  fairly  judged  from 
this  brief  experiment.  To  the  advocates  of  free  trade  the 
system  seemed  an  improvement  on  a  rigid  high  tariff,  and 
a  step  toward  the  fulfilment  of  their  own  ideas.  But  Mr. 
Blaine  always  stoutly  maintained  that  reciprocity  was  the  foe 
of  free  trade  and  the  ally  of  protection. 

V.  There  were  various  indications  during  President  Har- 
rison's administration  that  socialistic  opinions  were  gaining 
ground  and  that  a  warfare  upon  vested  interests  was  preparing. 
Various  strikes,  some  of  them  serious,  occurred  at  this  time. 
The  single  tax  movement  continued  to  be  active.  On  Sep- 
tember 2,  1890,  delegates  of  the  single  tax  clubs  all  over  the 
country  assembled  at  New  York  to  form  a  permanent  and 
united  organization.  And  the  silver  agitation,  the  full  signifi- 
cance of  which  was  hardly  seen  as  yet,  had  by  no  means 
quieted  down.  Business  men  looked  with  alarm  upon  the  con- 
tinual increase  in  the  number  of  silver  dollars.  But  not  so 
the  friends  of  the  white  metal.  They  still  believed  that  the 
liberal  coinage  of  silver  was  the  only  means  of  making  money 
plentiful,  and  their  antipathy  to  the  gold  standard  grew  more 
and  more  pronounced.  Among  the  poorer  classes  in  the 
country  the  conviction  deepened  that  the  capitalists  were  con- 
spiring against  them,  and  were  trying  to  drive  silver  out  of 
circulation  through  the  most  selfish   motives.      Hence   their 


454  THE   UNITED   STATES  book  in 

feeling  against  trusts,  monopolies,  and  wealthy  corporations 
grew  more  intense  and  bitter. 

VI.  In  some  parts  of  the  country  lynch  law  assumed  a 
dangerous  and  alarming  activity.  White  people  were  infuri- 
ated by  the  brutal  crimes  of  negroes,  and  sometimes  inflicted 
upon  the  offenders  a  lingering  and  agonizing  death.  Through 
wide  sections  of  territory  there  was  manifested  a  fierce 
impatience  with  the  law's  delays.  Those  guilty  of  crimes 
punishable  by  death  were  promptly  executed  ;  for  there  seemed 
to  exist  a  fear  that  the  offenders  would  escape  justice  if  brought 
to  trial.  So  jails  offered  little  security  to  their  guilty  inmates. 
Wardens  and  sheriffs  Avere  powerless  to  resist  the  mobs  that 
gathered  at  the  prison  doors  and  demanded  that  notorious 
criminals  should  be  given  into  their  hands.  ISTor  was  this  wild 
justice  occasioned  merely  by  race  feeling.  White  men  as  well  as 
colored  were  torn  from  their  cells  at  night,  or  openly  snatched 
from  the  officers  of  justice,  and  executed  without  trial. 

This  contempt  for  the  processes  of  law  was  viewed  with 
concern  by  all  thoughtful  citizens,  and  became  a  serious  menace 
to  American  institutions.  For,  as  time  passed,  this  disease  in 
the  body  politic  only  seemed  to  grow  more  desperate.  As  crimes 
became  numerous,  so  did  lynchings  increase  in  frequency,  until 
in  many  parts  of  the  country  the  mobs  learned  to  regard  every 
depraved  and  vicious  criminal  as  their  legitimate  prey.  And 
all  the  more  dangerous  did  these  outbreaks  of  violence  seem 
when  they  were  contrasted  with  the  almost  unbroken  reign  of 
law  in  Europe.  True,  the  populations  of  Europe  are  held  in 
check  by  military  rule.  They  do  not  take  the  administration 
of  justice  into  their  own  hands  because  they  dare  not.  The 
smallest  outbreaks  on  their  part  would  be  promptly  suppressed 
by  the  troops,  though  even  the  large  standing  armies  do  not 
prevent  Socialists  and  other  agitators  from  causing  an  occa- 
sional riot.  But  the  very  fact  that  lynch  law  is  prevented  in 
Europe  keeps  the  taste  for  it  from  growing;  while  the  constant 
resort  to  it  in  America  cannot  fail  to  engender  lawlessness, 
destroy  the  love  of  justice,  and  feed  unhealthy  and  degraded 
appetites.  Not,  therefore,  until  this  tendency  to  override  the 
law  has  been  controlled,  will  the  institutions  of  the  country 
rest  securely  upon  the  affections  and  the  good-will  of  the 
people. 


CHAP.  X         CLEVELAND,   HARRISON,    AND   McKINLEY  455 

VII.  In  the  course  of  President  Harrison's  administration 
there  occurred  a  striking  reversal  of  the  popular  verdict  given 
in  the  election  of  1888.  In  that  year  the  Republicans  carried 
the  country.  In  the  elections  of  1890  the  Democrats  made 
surprising  gains  and  obtained  a  large  majority  in  the  lower 
House  of  Congress.  Nor  was  it  easy  to  ascribe  the  reason  for 
this  change  of  feeling.  It  could  hardly  be  said  that  the  country 
was  dissatisfied  with  the  policy  of  the  Republicans,  for  that 
policy  had  not  been  fairly  tried  in  so  short  a  time.  At  least, 
the  fruits  of  it  were  not  yet  fully  matured.  So  the  Democratic 
gains  seemed  to  be  largely  due  to  a  discontent  not  easily 
analyzed.  There  is,  apparently,  a  large  class  of  voters  in  the 
country  who  have  no  strong  party  affiliations  and  no  fixed 
political  principles.  They  want  prosperity.  They  are  ready 
to  vote  for  any  creed  or  party  that  promises  better  times. 
Hence,  the  results  of  a  national  election  are  sometimes  quite 
misleading.  Apparently,  they  indicate  that  the  country  has 
accepted  the  principles  of  the  victorious  party.  In  reality, 
they  indicate  that  many  voters,  out  of  mere  restlessness  and 
unreasoning  dissatisfaction,  desire  a  change. 

VIII.  As  a  result  of  the  discontent  prevailing  among  the 
farmers  and  many  persons  of  moderate  means,  the  Populist 
party  was  organized  in  1892.  Its  members  were  persuaded 
that  the  two  great  parties  of  the  country  were  controlled  by 
the  railroads,  the  banks,  and  the  speculators.  They  therefore 
determined  that  their  own  organization  should  be  entirely  free 
from  these  conflicting  influences,  and  they  so  announced  in 
their  platform.  Their  political  creed  is  that  all  railways 
should  be  owned  by  the  public,  and  that  Government  should 
issue  currency  directly  to  the  people,  without  using  banks  as  a 
medium.  They  also  believe  in  the  free  coinage  of  silver  as 
a  means  of  making  money  plentiful.  The  party  has  found 
many  followers,  especially  among  the  nnprosperous.  In  one 
or  two  States  it  has  gained  temporarily  the  ascendency.  But 
it  has  only  a  handful  of  representatives  in  Congress,  and  has 
therefore  been  utterly  unable  to  shape  national  legislation. 

Mr.  Harrison  was  renominated  by  the  Republicans  in  1892, 
Whitelaw  Reid  being  given  the  second  place  on  the  ticket. 
The  Democrats  for  the  third  time  put  Mr.  Cleveland  forwai'd, 
and  selected  Adlai  E.  Stevenson  of  Illinois  as  their  candidate 


456  THE    UNITED   STATES  book  hi 

for  the  vice-presidency.  Both  parties  were  confident  of  carry- 
ing the  election.  The  Democrats  were  encouraged  by  their 
victory  in  1890.  The  Republicans  believed  that  the  McKinley 
tariff  met  v/ith  the  approval  of  the  country,  and  that  the  con- 
gressional elections  in  1892  showed  merely  a  passing  dissatis- 
faction with  the  Republican  policy.  But  the  result  of  the 
contest  showed  that  this  dissatisfaction  had  spread  and  deep- 
ened, instead  of  disappearing.  Mr.  Cleveland  had  a  handsome 
majority  in  the  popular  vote,  and  he  received  276  electoral 
votes  to  145  cast  for  Harrison,  and  23  for  Weaver,  the  candidate 
of  the  People's  party.  The  Prohibitionists  had  nominated 
John  Bidwell,  but  he  obtained  no  votes  in  the  Electoral  College. 

Mr.  Cleveland  was  duly  inaugurated  in  March,  1893,  and  at 
once  gave  to  the  affairs  of  the  nation  that  careful  attention 
which  they  required.  For  the  condition  of  the  country  was 
anything  but  satisfactory.  Business  was  depressed,  failures 
were  common,  financial  disaster  was  apprehended.  These 
evils  President  Cleveland  attributed  to  excessive  coinage  of 
silver  and  to  the  high  tariff  established  by  the  McKinley  Bill. 
He  was  indeed  a  resolute  foe  to  government  paternalism  in  all 
its  forms.  More  than  once  he  had  warned  the  country  that 
government  aid  to  the  various  forms  of  industry  was  robbing 
the  people  of  their  self-reliance  and  was  undermining  public 
morals.  And  he  looked  upon  a  protective  tariff  and  upon  legis- 
lation to  help  the  production  and  the  circulation  of  silver  as 
peculiarly  unfortunate  forms  of  paternalism. 

As  the  business  situation  grew  worse  in  the  early  months  of 
President  Cleveland's  administration,  he  determined  to  call  a 
special  session  of  Congress  to  pass  relief  legislation.  That 
body  was  accordingly  convened  on  August  7,  1893.  The  Pres- 
ident called  its  attention  to  the  unfortunate  condition  of  affairs,, 
showed  how  the  gold  standard  was  endangered  by  the  constant 
issue  of  silver  dollars  and  business  consequently  paralyzed,  and 
demanded  the  repeal  of  the  Sherman  Bill  of  1890.  This  rec- 
ommendation Congress  was  ready  to  adopt,  though  Mr.  Cleve- 
land received  in  this  matter  as  much  support  from  the 
Republicans  as  from  his  own  party.  So  the  House  promptly 
passed  an  act  repealing  the  Sherman  Bill ;  and  a  majority  in 
the  Senate  was  eager  to  confirm  this  action.  But  the  Senators 
who  believed  in  free  silver  coinage  for  a  long  time  prevented 


CHAP.  X       CLEVELAND,    HARRISON,   AND   McKINLEY  457 

the  Senate  from  voting.  They  insisted  upon  discussing  the 
measure  for  repeal  indehnitely,  and  they  only  allowed  action  to 
be  taken  on  it  after  many  weeks  of  obstruction.  But  finally, 
on  the  first  of  November,  it  was  passed  by  the  Senate  and 
signed  by  the  President.  So  the  coinage  of  silver  was  stopped, 
the  gold  standard  was  temporarily  made  more  secure,  and  busi- 
ness revived. 

But  so  long  as  the  greenbacks  were  in  circulation  the  gold 
standard  was  in  danger.  Several  times  during  Mr.  Cleveland's 
administration  the  amount  of  gold  in  the  treasury  fell  consid- 
erably below  $100,000,000  and  was  only  brought  above  the 
danger  point  by  an  issue  of  gold  bonds.  Such  issue  the  Presi- 
dent was  empowered  to  make  by  an  act  of  July  14,  1870 ;  and 
if  Mr.  Cleveland  had  not  freely  used  this  power,  gold  would 
have  been  driven  out  of  circulation.  Por  it  was  needed  in 
large  sums  for  foreign  exchange ;  and,  by  means  of  the  green- 
backs, those  who  wished  to  send  gold  abroad  could  draw  it  ad 
libitum  from  the  treasury.  Moreover,  many  were  disposed  to 
raid  the  treasury  of  its  gold  through  fear  that  gold  would 
soon  be  driven  out  of  circulation  by  silver.  Therefore  Mr. 
Cleveland  was  obliged  to  contract  for  considerable  sums  of 
gold  in  order  to  keep  the  reserve  in  the  treasury  sufficiently 
large,  and  to  issue  bonds  as  security  for  the  debt  thus  incurred. 
But  this  means  of  maintaining  the  gold  standard  was  to  his 
mind  extremely  objectionable,  for  it  offered  no  permanent  rem- 
edy for  a  desperate  weakness  in  our  fiscal  system.  More  than 
once  he  urged  Congress  to  retire  the  greenbacks,  that  the  Gov- 
ernment might  be  wholly  relieved  of  the  obligation  of  supply- 
ing gold  on  demand.  But  this  action  Congress  steadily  refused 
to  take.  Relief  came,  however,  somewhat  unexpectedly  toward 
the  end  of  President  Cleveland's  administration.  For  the 
foreign  demand  for  American  wheat  became  very  great,  owing 
to  scant  crops  in  Europe  and  India ;  our  exports  very  largely 
exceeded  our  imports  ;  and  by  the  laws  of  exchange  gold  flowed 
very  rapidly  into  the  country  from  abroad.  The  gold  reserve 
in  the  treasury  was  swelled  to  upward  of  $150,000,000.  All 
fear  of  a  change  in  the  circulating  medium  was  for  a  time  put 
to  rest.  But  the  danger  to  the  gold  standard  still  existed,  as 
the  greenbacks  had  not  been  withdrawn  from  circulation. 

The  sweeping  Democratic  victory  in  1892  was  supposed  by 


458  THE    UNITED   STATES  book  hi 

the  Democra.ts  themselves  to  mean  that  the  country  demanded 
a  large  reduction  in  the  taritf.  That  this  supposition  was  cor- 
rect may  well  be  doubted.  In  late  years  the  voters  of  the 
country  have  apparently  changed  their  creed  so  many  times  that 
it  is  difficult  to  determine  their  attitude  toward  the  tariff  ques- 
tion. Hardly  does  one  party  win  a  victory  at  the  polls,  and 
acquire  a  handsome  majority  in  Congress,  before  the  decision 
is  reversed  and  the  other  party  rides  triumphantly  into  power. 
Hence  it  is  almost  impossible  to  decide  whether  the  people  of 
the  country  want  a  high  tariff  or  a  low  one.  Probably  the 
majority  have  no  clear  or  decided  views  upon  the  subject. 
They  want  a  scale  of  duties  that  will  establish  prosperity,  but 
they  are  altogether  unable  to  make  sound  inferences  upon  so 
intricate  a  question. 

But  the  Democrats  were  unquestionably  right  in  attacking 
the  tariff  question,  whatever  their  victory  in  the  election  of 
1892  may  have  signified.  Their  party  stood  committed  to  a 
low  tariff  policy,  and  they  were  bound  to  legislate  in  accordance 
with  their  platform.  They  accordingly  framed  a  bill  which 
greatly  reduced  the  duties  on  imports  and  practically  granted 
raw  material;  and  it  was  passed  by  the  House  early  in  1894. 
It  was  framed  chiefly  by  Mr.  Wilson,  a  representative  of  Vir- 
ginia, and  was  originally  called  by  his  name.  As  arranged  by 
him  and  as  passed  by  the  House,  it  fairly  expressed  the  Demo- 
cratic theory  that  tariff  is  for  revenue  rather  than  for  protec- 
tion. But  some  of  the  leading  Democratic  Senators  desired 
protection  for  articles  in  which  they  were  financially  interested ; 
and  under  their  influence  the  bill  was  so  essentially  changed 
that  it  could  hardly  be  recognized.  Coal  and  iron  were  taken 
off  the  free  list,  and  the  duties  on  many  articles  were  largely 
increased.  The  measure  no  longer  reflected  the  principles  of 
the  Democratic  party,  and  the  House  was  very  unwilling  to 
accept  the  Senate  amendments.  For  a  time  it  looked  as  if  the 
cause  of  tariff  reform  would  be  utterly  lost  in  this  disagree- 
ment between  the  two  congressional  bodies.  But  finally  the 
House  passed  the  bill  as  amended  by  the  Senate,  and  Mr. 
Cleveland,  by  failing  to  return  it  with  objections  within  ten 
days  after  receiving  it,  allowed  it  to  become  a  law.  In  thus 
refusing  to  give  it  his  signature,  he  showed  his  disapproval  of 
the  Senate's  amendments.     On  the  whole,  the  scale  of  duties  it 


CHAP.  X       CLEVELAND,   HARRISON,    AND   McKINLEY  459 

established  was  considerably  lower  than  that  of  the  McKinley 
Bill  of  1890,  —  so  much  lower,  indeed,  as  to  call  forth  severe 
criticisms  from  the  Republicans.  They  determined  to  pass  a 
strong  protection  measure  in  place  of  it  as  soon  as  they  should 
be  restored  to  power. 

Evidence  was  given  from  time  to  time  that  the  discontent 
among  the  poorer   classes   of  the   country  was  by  no   means 
diminishing.     In   the   spring   of   1894:   a   man   named   Coxey 
induced  bands  of  unemployed   men  all   over  the  country  to 
march  on  to  Washington  that  they  might  present  their  griev- 
ances to  Congress.     Those  that  started  on  this  bizarre  errand 
gave  much  trouble  in  the  Western  States  by  boarding  railroad 
trains ;  but,  in  spite  of  their  lawless  efforts  to  steal  rides,  very 
few  of  them  reached  their   destination.     Coxey  was   himself 
arrested  in  the  national  Capitol,  and  the  whole  project  resulted 
in  a  farce.     More  serious  was  an  extensive  strike  of  railroad 
employees  that  occurred  in    the  summer   of  the   same   year. 
Beginning  in  the  workyards    of   the  Pullman   Car  Company 
near  Chicago,  it  rapidly  spread,  until  forty  thousand  railroad 
hands  were  idle,  and  most  of  the  railroads  in  the  West  were 
unable  to  run  their  trains.     Chicago  became  the  centre  of  the 
disturbance,  and  there  the  strikers  resorted  to  violence,  intimi- 
dation, and  wholesale    destruction    of  railroad   property.     As 
Governor  Altgeld  of  Illinois  did  not  take  summary  measures 
to  suppress  the  riot.  President  Cleveland  sent  United  States 
troops  to  Chicago  to  quell  the  disturbance.     And  though  he 
took  this  action  against  the  earnest  protest  of  Governor  Alt- 
geld, he  was  fully  sustained  by  the  sober   sentiment   of   the 
country.     For  the  rioters,  by  interfering  with  the  United  States 
mail  service,  made  their  violent  conduct  an  offence  against  the 
national  Government  and  gave  the  Government  a  perfectly  valid 
reason  for  using  its  strength  to  put  them  down.     So  the  out- 
break was  soon  quieted.    The  strikers  resumed  work ;  the  trains 
ran  without  interference.     Once  more  had  the  central  Govern- 
ment of  the  nation  shown  itself  equal  to  an  emergency  and 
earned  the  respect  of  thoughtful  citizens.     Nor  was  its  victory 
over  lawlessness  without  its  instructive  lesson  to  railway  own- 
ers.    All  over  the  country  the  managers  of  street  railways  tried 
to  secure  mail  transportation  over  their  lines,  that  they  might 
count  on  Government  protection  in  case  of  strikes. 


460  THE   UNITED   STATES  book  hi 

While  the  laboring  classes  were  manifesting  their  dissatis- 
faction in  this  violent  manner,  the  wide  and  deep-seated  feel- 
ing against  capital  and  large  fortunes  showed  itself  in  more 
peaceable  ways.  The  State  legislatures  passed  laws  taxing 
inheritance  and  restricting  the  rights  of  monopolies ;  and  the 
national  legislature,  in  1894,  attempted  to  increase  the  dimin- 
ishing reveniies  of  the  country  by  taxing  incomes  larger  than 
forty-five  hundred  dollars.  It  was  noticeable  that  those  who 
voted  in  favor  of  this  bill  came  largely  from  the  poorer  dis- 
tricts of  the  country,  and  those  who  voted  against  it  from  the 
centres  where  capital  was  accumulated.  So  the  measure  was 
additional  evidence  of  the  widespread  conviction  that  capital 
should  contribute  more  generously  to  the  public  support. 
Nor  was  this  conviction  by  any  means  confined  to  the  men  of 
slender  means.  Many  fair-minded  observers  of  existing  eco- 
nomical conditions  believe  the  income  tax  a  perfectly  fair  one, 
and  a  legitimate  means  of  making  wealth  beneficial  to  the 
State.  But  in  1895  the  tax  on  incomes  was  declared  by  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  to  be  a  direct  tax  and 
therefore  unconstitutional,  because  it  was  not  laid  by  appor- 
tionment. 

Foreign  affairs  several  times  engrossed  attention  during  Mr. 
Cleveland's  term  of  office.  The  Bering  Sea  question,  which 
had  been  the  cause  of  long  diplomatic  negotiations  between 
Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  was  finally  settled  in  a 
manner  adverse  to  the  latter  country  in  1894.  For  the  United 
States  had  claimed  that  it  had  a  right  to  prevent  the  killing  of 
seals  in  the  open  sea ;  but  the  court  of  arbitration  appointed 
to  consider  the  matter  decided  against  the  claim.  That  their 
decision  was  legally  correct  there  can  be  no  doubt.  Pelagic 
sealing  can  only  be  stopped  by  an  agreement  between  the  two 
countries.  But  unless  such  an  agreement  is  made  and  enforced, 
the  seals  will  soon  be  exterminated.  But  a  far  more  serious 
complication  with  England  was  caused  by  the  Venezuela  boun- 
dary question.  As  England,  under  Lord  Salisbury's  guidance, 
resisted  the  claim  of  the  United  States  to  have  a  voice  in  the 
matter,  Mr.  Cleveland  took  a  very  firm  stand  upon  the  ques- 
tion in  his  message  to  Congress  in  December,  1895.  So  men- 
acing were  his  utterances  that  feeling  was  greatly  excited  in 
both  countries,  and  war  was  considered  possible.     But  after  a 


CHAP.  X        CLEVELAND,   HARRISON,   AND   McKINLEY  461 

time  calmer  counsels  prevailed.  Congress  authorized  the 
President  to  appoint  a  commission  to  investigate  and  report 
upon  the  subject,  and  England  finally  allowed  the  question  to 
be  decided  by  arbitration.  But  the  difficulties  occasioned  by 
the  rebellion  in  Cuba  (p.  108)  were  not  so  easily  settled.  For, 
as  the  war  dragged  on  and  Spain  seemed  unable  to  stamp  out 
the  insurrection,  many  Congressmen  insisted  that  the  United 
States  should  recognize  the  Cubans  as  belligerents,  and  should 
be  prepared  to  annex  the  island  if  opportunity  offered.  But 
this  policy  Mr.  Cleveland  steadily  opposed,  aiid  in  his  last  mes- 
sage to  Congress  he  expressed  the  conviction  that  the  Cuban 
insurgents  were  without  an  organized  government  and  could 
not  properly  be  considered  a  warlike  power.  At  the  same  time 
he  gave  Spain  warning  that  the  United  States  might  feel  justi- 
fi.ed  in  interfering,  if  she  did  not  suppress  the  insurrection 
within  a  reasonable  time. 

This  attitude  was  discreet  and  dignified,  but  it  was  much 
criticised  by  Mr.  Cleveland's  political  opponents,  as  was  also 
his  conduct  with  reference  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands.  Queen 
Liliuokalani  succeeded  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  islands  in  1891, 
upon  the  death  of  her  brother,  King  Kalakaua ;  but  her  rule 
was  so  corrupt  that  she  was  deposed  in  1893  by  a  small  but 
influential  portion  of  the  i)opulation,  who  proclaimed  a  Repub- 
lic and  issued  a  new  Constitution.  Upon  these  revolutionary 
proceedings  the  American  people  were  inclined  to  look  with 
favor;  but  Mr.  Cleveland  recommended  that  Liliuokalani  be 
restored  to  power.  For  a  commissioner  whom  he  had  specially 
sent  to  investigate  the  Hawaiian  difficulties  reported  that  the 
American  Minister  on  the  islands  had  used  his  own  influence 
and  the  presence  of  a  United  States  ship-of-war  in  support  of 
the  insurgents.  But  the  Senate  declined  to  adopt  the  Presi- 
dent's view;  and  on  May  31, 1894,  it  agreed  unanimously  upon 
a  policy  of  non-intervention  in  Hawaiian  affairs. 

As  a  civil  service  reformer  Mr.  Cleveland  made  a  much 
better  record  in  his  second  administration  than  he  did  in  his 
first.  By  the  Civil  Service  Law  passed  in  1883  only  about 
fourteen  thousand  offices  were  filled  through  competitive 
examination.  But  gradually  the  number  was  increased.  By 
the  terms  of  the  law  the  examination  systiMu  could,  at  the 
discretion  of  the  President,  be  made  applicable  to  many  of  the 


462  THE   UNITED   STATES  book  hi 

smaller  postal  and  customs  offices ;  and  both  Mr.  Harrison 
and  Mr.  Cleveland  took  advantage  of  this  provision.  Presi- 
dent Harrison  widened  the  application  of  the  law;  and  in 
the  last  year  of  his  second  administration  President  Cleveland 
applied  it  to  forty  thousand  offices,  which  were  about  all  that 
still  remained  outside  of  its  scope.  Thus  civil  service  reform, 
which  had  so  few  friends  at  first  and  never  found  favor  with 
the  politicians,  achieved  in  the  end  a  signal  triumph.  Govern- 
ment officials  are  now  appointed  for  merit,  not  for  party 
service ;  and  they  are  discharged  only  for  cause,  not  because 
of  a  victory  or  a  defeat  at  the  polls.  Nor  can  they  be  assessed 
for  political  purposes  as  they  were  in  the  most  open  and 
shameful  manner  before  the  days  of  the  reform.  It  is  worthy 
of  note  also  that  some  of  the  States  are  adopting  the  national 
system  of  appointment  to  office.  Both  Massachusetts  and 
New  York  have  passed  excellent  civil  service  laws ;  but  in  the 
latter  State  the  purport  of  the  law  has  been  largely  defeated 
by  corrupt  political  influence. 

The  presidential  campaign  of  1896  was  one  of  the  most 
interesting  in  the  history  of  the  country.  The  Republicans 
nominated  William  McKinley  of  Ohio,  who  had  been  one  of 
the  foremost  leaders  of  the  party  ever  since  his  name  had 
been  associated  with  the  tariff  bill  of  1890;  and  Garret  A. 
Hobart  of  New  Jersey.  In  their  platform  they  declared  for 
the  maintenance  of  the  gold  standard  and  for  a  revision  of  the 
tariff.  The  Democrats  made  the  currency  question  the  all- 
important  one,  and  expressed  themselves  so  unequivocally  in 
favor  of  the  free  coinage  of  silver  that  the  delegates  who 
believed  in  maintaining  the  gold  standard  were  driven  out 
of  the  convention.  Their  nominees  were  "William  J.  Bryan  of 
Nebraska  and  Arthur  Sewall  of  Maine.  The  nomination  of 
Mr.  Bryan  was  indorsed  by  the  Populists,  but  they  refused  to 
accept  Mr.  Sewall  as  their  candidate  for  Vice-President  because 
of  his  wealth,  and  nominated  instead  Mr.  Thomas  E.  Watson, 
an  editor  of  Georgia.  The  Socialists  and  Prohibitionists  also 
made  nominations,  and  the  Gold  Democrats  too  put  their  own 
candidates  in  the  field.  For  they  were  aware  that  many 
Democrats  in  the  Western  States  who  were  bitterly  opposed 
to  free  coinage  were  yet  equally  opposed  to  voting  a  Republi- 
can ticket.     So,  to  give  such  voters  a  ticket   they  could  con- 


CHAP.  X       CLEVELAND,    HARRISON,    AND   McKINLEY  463 

scientiously  support  and  to  give  Democratic  principles  upon 
the  tariff  question  a  full  and  fair  expression,  they  met  at 
Indianapolis  and  nominated  Senator  Palmer  of  Illinois  and 
ex-Governor  Buckiier  of  Kentucky. 

As  the  campaign  proceeded,  the  currency  question  became 
the  absorbing  one  and  drove  all  others  from  the  field.  The 
whole  political  strength  of  the  nation  was  arrayed  for  or  against 
the  free  coinage  of  silver.  So  the  ordinary  party  distinctions 
were  entirely  lost.  Lifelong  Democrats  declared  in  favor  of 
the  Republican  ticket ;  and  the  Democrats  who  indorsed  the 
Bryan  nomination  entirely  abandoned  the  principles  the  party 
had  stood  for  since  17<S9.  For  the  Democrats  had  always 
opposed  strong  centralization  and  paternalism  in  all  its  forms. 
But  now  they  wished  to  force  silver  coinage  upon  the  country, 
put  heavy  taxes  on  wealth,  and  depreciate  property  by  the 
power  of  the  Government.  So,  while  they  still  opposed  protec- 
tion, their  opposition  had  no  logical  force  and  consistency  ; 
for  they  wished  to  give  to  silver  the  protection  they  denied  to 
other  things.  Thus  they  at  once  condemned  paternalism  and 
indorsed  it.  And  the  party,  which  in  the  days  of  slavery  had 
been  led  by  the  Southern  aristocracy,  had  now  become  the 
organization  of  the  dissatisfied.  It  embodied  most  of  the 
socialistic  tendencies  that  had  been  manifesting  themselves 
more  and  more  since  the  beginning  of  Hayes's  presidency. 
The  party  leaders  were  not  prosperous  men  as  a  rule,  not 
trained  political  thinkers.  They  were  sturdy,  intense,  and 
honest  men  who  were  thoroughly  opposed  to  the  accumulation 
of  large  fortunes  and  equally  opposed  to  political  corruption ; 
while  their  followers  were  for  the  most  part  hard-working 
men,  who  sincerely  believed  that  the  free  coinage  of  silver 
would  put  the  poor  and  the  rich  on  a  more  equal  footing. 

Thus  the  campaign  assumed,  as  it  went  on,  an  extraordinary 
character.  It  was  not  a  contest  of  Republicans  with  Demo- 
crats. It  was  a  warfare  of  classes.  The  poor  were  arrayed 
against  the  rich,  the  friends  of  vested  interests  against  those 
who  did  not  regard  the  rights  of  property  as  sacred,  the 
supporters  of  the  gold  standard  against  those  who  wished  to 
abolish  it.  And  though  the  campaign  did  not  call  forth 
personal  abuse,  like  that  of  1884,  it  roused  the  most  intense 
and  widespread   interest.     Both   parties  were   confident,  and 


464  THE   UNITED   STATES  book  hi 

yet  the  issues  were  so  important  that  neither  party  was  free 
from  anxiety.  Tremendous  efforts  were  made  on  both  sides 
to  reach  and  influence  voters.  Tracts  upon  financial  questions 
were  circulated  by  the  million.  The  land  resounded  with 
arguments  for  or  against  the  free  coinage  of  silver.  But,  as 
the  months  passed,  the  Republicans  became  more  and  more 
confident  of  success,  and  the  event  justified  their  anticipa- 
tions. For  Mr.  McKinley  received  a  majority  of  nearly  a 
million  in  the  popular  vote,  and  277  electoral  votes  against 
132  given  to  Mr.  Bryan.  So  the  security  of  the  gold  standard 
was  established  for  at  least  four  years,  and  business  began 
at  once  to  revive. 

President  McKinley's  inaugural  address  was  read  with  eager 
interest,  for  there  was  a  general  uncertainty  as  to  the  position 
he  would  take  upon  the  ('uban  question.  To  the  relief  of  sober- 
thinking  people  throughout  the  country,  he  recommended  that 
the  policy  of  non-intervention  be  continued ;  and  Congress 
therefore  turned  its  attention,  not  to  martial  matters,  but  to 
financial  questions.  But,  although  the  Republican  party  stood 
pledged  to  currency  reform,^  it  was  the  tariff  that  was  made  the 
subject  of  new  legislation.  A  new  tariff  bill  was  prepared 
under  the  supervision  of  Mr.  Dingley,  the  Chairman  of  the 
Ways  and  Means  Committee  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
and  was  passed  by  the  House  on  March  31,  1897 ;  and  in  a 
somewhat  modified  form  by  the  Senate  on  the  7th  of  the 
following  July.  Though  it  differed  in  many  particulars  from 
the  McKinley  Bill  of  1890,  its  general  character  was  the  same, 
its  object  being  to  give  ample  protection  to  American  industries. 
Wool  and  other  raw  materials  were  taken  off  the  free  list,  and 
the  scale  of  duties  was  made  so  high  that  the  volume  of  imports 

1  This  pledge  was  ultimately  redeemed  ;  for  in  his  annual  message,  read  on 
December  5,  1899,  President  McKinley  recommended  that  the  gold  standard  be 
made  secure  by  appropriate  legislation,  and  bills  to  accomplish  that  end  were 
accordingly  introduced  into  the  House  and  the  Senate.  The  Senate  bill 
differed  materially  from  that  of  the  House  in  the  provisions  it  made  for 
refunding  the  national  debt ;  but  each  bill  recognized  the  gold  dollar  as  the 
unit  of  value;  declared  that  all  forms  of  United  States  money  must  be  main- 
tained at  a  parity  with  it  ;  and  empowered  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to 
sell  bonds  whenever  necessary  in  order  to  maintain  the  gold  reserve.  The 
House  bill  was  passed  on  December  18,  1899,  and  the  Senate  bill  on  February 
l.'i,  1900.  The  two  measures  were  brought  into  harmony  by  a  joint  committee, 
and  the  amended  bill  was  signed  by  the  Presideut  on  March  14,  1900. 


CHAP.  X       CLEVELAND,    HARRISON,   AND   McKINLEY  465 

was  in  consequence  diminished,  and  the  national  revenues  were 
not  swelled  as  was  expected  by  the  advocates  of  Mr.  Dingley's 
measure.  Appropriations  were  increased  by  Congress  rather 
than  curtailed,  and  it  seemed  probable  that  the  national  treas- 
ury would  still  liave  to  meet  an  annual  deficit.  But  before  the 
merits  of  the  Dingley  Bill  as  a  producer  of  revenue  were  fairly 
settled,^  the  thoughts  of  the  country  were  turned  away  from 
purely  financial  questions  by  the  danger  of  a  war  Avith  Spain. 

In  his  annual  message  to  Congress  in  December,  1897, 
President  McKinley  showed  himself  still  opposed  to  active 
interference  in  Cuban  affairs ;  but  the  sufferings  caused  by 
General  Weyler's  policy  of  concentration  roused  the  deep 
indignation  of  the  American  people,  and  led  many  jnembers  of 
Congress  to  demand  that  the  United  States  should  give  armed 
assistance  to  the  Cuban  insurgents.  This  demand  President 
McKinley  resisted  for  a  time ;  but  on  the  night  of  February  15, 
1898,  the  United  States  battleship  Maine  was  blown  up  and 
destroyed  in  the  harbor  of  Havana,  and  after  this  the  war 
party  in  Congress  gained  greatly  in  aggressiveness  and  strength. 
That  the  Spanish  authorities  at  Havana  were  responsible  for 
the  destruction  of  the  Maine  was  never  proved;  but  a  large 
portion  of  the  American  people  believed  that  this  nefarious 
deed  was  done  with  their  cognizance  and  sanction,  and  fiercer 
and  fiercer  grew  their  resentment  toward  the  Spanish  nation. 
Under  the  influence  of  this  feeling  the  two  Houses  of  Congress 
passed  joint  resolutions  on  April  19,  demanding  that  Spain 
should  withdraw  at  once  from  Cuba,  and  empowering  the 
President  to  use  the  land  and  naval  forces  of  the  United  States 
to  carry  this  resolution  into  effect.  But  before  these  resolutions 
could  be  delivered,  the  Spanish  Governnrent  broke  off  diplo- 
matic relations  with  the  United  States  and  gave  the  American 
minister  his  passport.  At  the  same  time  the  Spanish  Minister 
left  Washington.  As  this  meant  that  Spain  preferred  war 
rather  than  grant  the  demands  of  the  United  States,  the 
President,  on  April  21,  issued  orders  to  blockade  Havana. 

But  Spain  was  in  no  condition  to  oppose  so  formidable  a 
power  as  the  United  States.  Her  treasury  was  depleted,  her 
credit   gone,  her  navies  ill  manned,  her  strategy  inadequate. 

1  With  the  growth   of    prosperity  and    the   expansion   of  commerce  the 
Dingley  Bill  proved  to  be  a  good  revenue  producer. 
2h 


466  THE   UNITED   STATES  book  hi 

The  war,  consequently,  was  of  short  duration,  though  it  was 
not  ended  until  some  bloody  battles  had  been  fought.  On 
May  1  Admiral  Dewey  destroyed  in  Manila  Bay  the  Spanish 
fleet  that  was  stationed  there  to  protect  the  Philippine  Islands; 
and  on  July  3  the  squadrons  of  Admirals  Schley  and  Sampson 
annihilated  the  ships  of  Admiral  Cervera  near  Santiago.  Only 
eleven  days  later  the  city  of  Santiago  was  forced  to  surrender 
to  General  Shafter,  who  commanded  the  United  States  forces 
in  front  of  the  city,  and  Spanish  resistance  came  to  an  end. 
A  truce  was  declared  on  August  12,  and  the  terms  of  peace 
were  settled  at  Paris  by  a  commission  of  Spaniards  and  Ameri- 
cans. Spain's  representatives  contended  long  and  stubbornly 
against  America's  demands,  which  included  the  surrender  of 
Porto  Rico,  Cuba,  and  the  Philippines;  but  the  American  com- 
missioners would  make  no  concessions  beyond  allowing  Spain 
an  indemnity  of  $20,000,000  for  the  Philippines,  and  agreeing 
that  for  five  years  Spanish  goods  should  be  received  in  these 
islands  on  equal  terms  with  those  of  the  United  States.  To 
these  terms  the  Spanish  commissioners  Avere  obliged  to  consent; 
and  the  treaty,  as  it  was  arranged  at  Paris,  was  finally  ratified 
both  by  Spain  and  the  United  States. 

But  it  was  easier  for  the  latter  country  to  ratify  the  treaty 
than  to  carry  its  provisions  into  effect.  What  Avas  the  United 
States  to  do  with  the  islands  of  which  it  now  had  the  disposal? 
The  war  had  been  undertaken,  so  at  least  its  heartiest  advo- 
cates claimed,  for  freedom  and  humanity.  It  would  therefore 
seem  the  fitting  course  to  see  that  the  Spaniards  evacuated  the 
islands  they  had  fortified,  and  that  the  islands  themselves 
were  given  over  to  their  own  inhabitants.  But  such  a  course 
was  pronounced  difficult,  and  indeed  impossible,  by  a  majority 
in  Congress  and  by  a  large  number  of  American  citizens.  Even 
in  Cuba,  which  the  Spanish  were  required  to  evacuate  by  Jan- 
uary 1,  1899,  the  situation  was  difficult.  The  island  was  put 
under  a  military  government  by  the  United  States,  and  reaped 
great  and  immediate  benefits  from  this  regime.  But  how  long 
this  form  of  government  would  be  necessary  and  what  disposal 
would  ultimately  be  made  of  the  island,  no  one  could  say.  For 
a  desire  to  annex  it  found  wide  expression  in  the  United  States. 

Still  more  troublesome  was  the  condition  of  affairs  in  the 
Philippines.     To  give  these  islands  over  to  the  Filipinos,  it 


CHAP.  X       CLEVELAND,    HARRISON,    AND   McKINLEY  467 


was  stoutly  asserted,  would  only  bring  disaster ;  for  the 
islanders  were  incapable  of  establishing  a  stable  government 
and  giving  due  protection  to  commerce  and  trade.  Hence  the 
United  States  was  in  duty  bound  to  rule  the  Philippines  until 
their  inhabitants  had  acquired  the  art  of  self-government  and 
shown  themselves  fit  to  manage  their  own  affairs.  That  these 
assertions  were  well  founded  may  be  questioned.  They  involve 
the  fallacy  that  none  but  highly  civilized  peoples  can  take  care 
of  themselves.  And  that  this  is  a  fallacy  is  shown  by  history. 
For  few  civilized  countries  have  anything  that  even  approxi- 
mates to  perfect  government;  and  the  most  uncivilized  peo- 
ples do  not  usually  deteriorate  until  they  come  in  contact  with 
civilization.  But  with  such  ideas  as  these  neither  the  Govern- 
ment nor  the  war  party  in  the  country  was  in  sympathy. 
Almost  before  the  war  with  Spain  was  concluded,  the  cry  for 
imperialism  and  annexation  was  heard ;  and  on  June  15,  1898, 
the  House  voted  to  annex  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  the  Senate  con- 
curring on  the  5th  of  July  following.  Thus  the  appetite  for  new 
territory  was  created,  and,  once  created,  it  rapidly  increased. 
When  it  was  found  that  the  terms  of  peace  were  to  include  the 
surrender  of  the  Philippines,  there  grew  up  a  widespread  desire 
to  make  them  a  United  States  possession.  To  this  desire  Presi- 
dent McKinley  partially  acceded ;  and  the  troops  that  had  been 
sent  to  the  islands  after  Dewey's  victory  were  kept  there  and 
put  to  the  unpleasant  task  of  making  the  authority  of  the 
United  States  everywhere  recognized. 

An  unpleasant  task  it  certainly  proved  and  a  difficult  one  as 
well.  Aguinaldo,  a  brave  and  capable  leader  of  the  islanders 
when  they  were  in  rebellion  against  Spain,  wished  to  put  him- 
self at  the  head  of  a  native  government,  and  was  unwilling  to 
see  the  islands  pass  under  foreign  control.  He  therefore  re- 
sisted the  troops  of  the  United  States ;  and  his  soldiers  showed 
such  courage  that  they  were  only  defeated  after  severe  fighting 
in  which  they  suffered  heavy  losses.  Nor  were  they  at  once 
brought  into  subjection  even  by  defeat ;  for,  driven  from  one 
stronghold,  they  found  it  easy  to  withdraw  into  the  wilderness 
and  make  a  further  stand.  Hence  the  closing  years  of  the  cen- 
tury found  the  United  States  engaged  in  a  troublesome  guerilla 
warfare  which  seemed  to  resemble  those  wearing  conflicts  so 
frequently  waged  by  Spain  in  her  far-away  colonial  possessions. 


468  THE   UNITED   STATES  book  hi 

Nor  was  it  easy  to  say  how  the  islands  should  be  governed 
after  they  were  conquered.  Whether,  indeed,  the  Constitution 
gives  Avarrant  for  annexing  and  ruling  distant  countries  has 
been  earnestly  discussed,  but  Avithout  satisfactory  conclusion  ; 
for  the  friends  and  the  enemies  of  national  expansion  each 
hold  that  the  Constitution  supports  their  view.^  In  the  very 
nature  of  things  there  must  be  profound  and  irreconcilable 
difference  over  such  an  important  question,  just  as  there  has 
been  fundamental  disagreement  in  regard  to  the  powers  of  the 
central  Government  ever  since  the  Constitution  was  adopted. 
Neither  argument  nor  experience  will  ever  heal  such  dissen- 
sions, for  they  spring  from  that  freedom  of  thought  and  ex- 
pression that  belongs  to  a  great  democracy.  It  is  only  to 
be  hoped  that  through  the  clash  of  opposing  views  the  nation 
may  be  saved  from  irremediable  error. 

So  intense  was  the  interest  in  the  war  and  afterward  in  the 
question  of  annexation  and  expansion,  that  other  matters  failed 
to  attract  the  attention  they  deserved.  Even  the  War  Revenue 
Act,  which  was  passed  by  Congress  on  June  9,  1898,  did  not 
arouse  serious  and  prolonged  discussion.  For  the  people  of 
the  country,  knowing  that  the  wealth  of  the  nation  was  almost 
unlimited,  submitted  without  murmuring  to  stamp  duties  and 
a  number  of  internal  revenue  taxes  which  were  made  neces- 
sary by  the  heavy  expenses  of  the  war.  A  loan  not  to  exceed 
$400,000,000  was  also  authorized  by  Congress,  and  three  per 
cent  bonds  to  the  amount  of  $200,000,000  were  issued  by  the 
national  treasury  and  immediately  taken  by  the  people  of  the 
country.  That  the  loan  was  needed  was  soon  made  apj)arent ; 
for  even  the  increased  revenues  of  the  Government  did  not 
suffice  to  defray  the  national  expenses  after  the  Avar  began. 
And  though  all  had  supposed  that  the  need  of  extra  taxation 
Avould  pass  Avith  the  establishment  of  peace,  the  policy  of  an- 
nexation proved  too  costly  to  alloAv  tlie  national  revenues  to  be 
curtailed.  So  many  troops  Avere  kept  in  Cuba  and  the  Philip- 
pines, that  the  expenses  of  the  nation  Avere  put  upon  a  Avar 
basis  for  an  indefinite  period,  and  the  prospect  of  removing  the 
war  taxes  grcAv  remote. 

^  The  America7i  Law  Revieiv  for  March  and  April,  1899,  discusses  the  con- 
stitutional aspect  of  expansion  and  imperialism;  but  the  literature  bearing 
upon  the  subject  has  become  so  extensive  and  is  so  rapidly  grooving  as  to  defy 
mention. 


CHAP.  X       CLEVELAND,    HARRISON,   AND   McKINLEY  469 

But  the  people  of  the  country  seemed  to  bear  their  financial 
burdens  with  entire  ease;  for  soon  after  the  close  of  the  war 
with  Spain  a  period  of  great  prosperity  began.  So  extensive 
was  the  demand  for  American  cereals  and  manufactures  that 
exports  exceeded  imports  and  there  was  a  steady  flow  of  gold 
into  the  country.  The  stock  of  gold  in  the  treasury  increased 
until  it  amounted  to  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  billion  of  dol- 
lars, and  all  fears  of  a  change  in  the  standard  of  value  were 
allayed.  With  this  condition  of  affairs  came  a  revival  of 
business  confidence,  a  buoyant  stock  market,  and  great  indus- 
trial and  commercial  activity.  Mills  and  factories  were  busy, 
new  enterprises  were  promoted,  and  wages  were  increased. 
But  this  very  prosperity  was  detrimental  to  the  cause  of  cur- 
rency reform  ;  for  it  blinded  the  eyes  of  the  many  to  the 
defects  of  the  inonetary  system  of  the  country.  Only  finan- 
cial experts  were  alive  to  the  need  of  new  fiscal  legislation ; 
Congress  made  no  effort  to  supply  a  satisfactory  circulating 
medium.  '  The  greenbacks  were  not  retired,  and  the  national 
bank-notes  did  not  pass  freely  into  the  country  districts  where 
they  were  greatly  needed. 

Prosperity  and  national  expansion  also  diverted  attention 
from  important  attempts  at  arbitration.  Great  Britain  had 
showed  so  friendly  an  attitude  toward  the  United  States  dur- 
ing the  war  with  Spain,  that  English-speaking  people  the 
world  over  felt  strongly  their  common  kinship  and  were 
inclined  to  adjust  all  differences  in  an  amicable  way.  It  was 
owing  to  this  state  of  feeling  that  a  Joint  Anglo-American 
Commission  was  appointed  in  1898  by  the  American,  Canadian, 
and  British  Governments  to  consider  all  matters  of  dispute 
between  Canada  and  the  United  States,  and  settle  these  differ- 
ences, if  possible,  by  mutual  concessions.  The  subjects  to  be 
discussed  were :  — 

The  Bering  Sea  Sealing  Question. 

Reciprocal  Mining  Regulations. 

The  Alaskan  Boundary. 

The  Preservation  of  the  Pisheries  in  the  Great  Lakes. 

The  North  Atlantic  Fishery  Question. 

Alien  Labor  Laws. 

Reciprocity  of  Trade. 

The  Commission  met  at  Quebec  on  August  23,  1898,  and, 


470  THE   UNITED   STATES  book  in 

after  sitting  till  October  8,  adjourned  to  meet  again  in  Wash- 
ington on  the  first  day  of  the  following  November.  This 
second  session  was  prolonged  for  several  months,  but  was 
almost  entirely  barren  of  results.  Reciprocity  proved  a 
troublesome  cause  of  disagreement,  for  large  private  and  cor- 
porate interests  were  opposed  to  those  concessions  by  which 
alone  there  could  be  a  free  interchange  of  products  between 
Canada  and  the  United  States;  but  the  rock  on  which  the 
Commission  split  was  the  Alaskan  boundary  question.  After 
the  discovery  of  gold  in  the  Klondike  region,  Canada  became 
desirous  of  acquiring  a  port  on  the  Pacific  in  the  far  North 
that  would  assist  the  transportation  of  mining  products  and 
bring  supplies  as  near  as  possible  to  the  mining  districts. 
Accordingly,  the  British  and  Canadian  members  of  the  Com- 
. mission  attempted  to  prove  that  the  boundary  between  Alaska 
and  British  Columbia,  when  correctly  established,  gave  Canada 
access  to  the  ocean.  But  this  claim  seemed  to  be  utterly 
without  historic  basis,  and  encountered  the  most  uncompromis- 
ing resistance  from  America's  representatives. 

It  was  unfortunate  that  these  differences  of  opinion  proved 
irreconcilable,  and  that  so  praiseworthy  an  attempt  at  inter- 
national arbitration  should  have  met  with  scant  success.  Ever 
since  the  War  of  1812  America  and  England  have  settled  their 
disputes  by  peaceable  conference,  and  one  troublesome  prob- 
lem after  another  has  been  solved  without  a  sacrifice  of 
friendly  relations.  The  Maine  boundary  was  arranged  by 
diplomacy  in  1842 ;  Oregon  was  secured  to  the  United  States 
in  a  similar  manner  in  1846;  in  1872  the  Alabama  claims 
were  settled  by  arbitration,  and  the  Island  of  San  Juan  was 
awarded  to  the  United  States  by  the  Emperor  of  Germany,  — 
occurrences  which  were  mentioned  with  hearty  approval  by 
President  Grant  in  his  annual  message  to  Congress ;  the  rights 
of  Americans  in  the  Canadian  fisheries  were  determined,  ad- 
versely to  the  United  States,  in  1877  ;  the  Bering  Sea  sealing 
question  was  submitted  to  arbitration  in  1894,  and  the  Vene- 
zuela boundary  dispute  in  1896.  It  is  to  be  hoped,  therefore, 
that  continued  negotiations  will  adjust  the  differences  between 
Canada  and  the  United  States,  and  will  add  to  these  triumphs 
of  diplomacy  and  arbitration. 

Much  more  serious  than  this  temporary  failure  to  come  to  an 


CHAP.  X       CLEVELAND,    HARRISON,    AND   McKINLEY  471 

agreement  with  Canada  was  the  injury  done  to  the  cause  of 
civil  service  reform  in  1899.     Ever  since  Garheld's  death  in 
1881  the  tendency  of  the  Presidents   has  been  to  widen  the 
application  of  the  civil  service  rules  ;  but  President  McKinley 
saw  lit  to  adopt  a  different  policy.     There  was,  indeed,  good 
reason  why  confidential  clerks,  and  officers  and  deputies-  whose 
duties  were  largely  of  a  personal  character,  should  be  appointed 
by  their  immediate  superiors  rather  than  by  the  Civil  Service 
Commission.     But  by  orders  issued  on  May  29,  1899,  Presi- 
dent McKinley  withdrew  an  unwarrantably  large  number  of 
officers  from  the  application  of  the  civil  service  rules,  and  so 
far  gave  encouragement  to  the  spoilsmen  and   place-hunters. 
According  to  statements  made  by  the  National  Civil  Service 
Reform  League,  the  number  of  offices  thus  removed  from  the 
classified  service  was  not  below  four  thousand,  as  was  claimed 
by  the  President  and  his  friends,  but  upward  of  ten  thousand ; 
and  thus  an  exceedingly  bad  precedent  had  been  established. 
For   if   succeeding   executives    should   imitate  President   Mc- 
Kinley's   action,  the  reform  that  had   made  such   gratifying 
progress  would   suffer  irretrievable    disaster.     To   thoughtful 
citizens   this   failure    to   maintain   the    highest   standards    of 
efficiency  in  the  civil  service  has  an  important  bearing  upon 
the  question  of  national  expansion.     The  attempt   to  govern 
distant  countries,  separated  from  the  Republic  by  thousands 
of  miles  of  sea,  is  at  best  a  hazardous  one.     It  can  be  made 
thoroughly  successful  only  by  securing  for  all  branches  of  the 
government  service  men  of  integrity  and  proved  ability.     If 
the  control   of   these  distant   territories  falls  into  the  hands 
of  political  adventurers  who  are  rewarded  with  office  because 
of  their  devotion  to  the  party  in  power,  the  most  unfortunate 
consequences  must  follow.     For  in  that  case,  instead  of  set- 
ting so-called  inferior  peoples  an    example    of    good   govern- 
ment, the  Republic  would  only  invite  their  just  and  indignant 
censure. 

And  that  the  danger  is  a  real  one  can  hardly  be  denied.  By 
the  elections  of  1899  the  people  of  the  nation  indorsed  the 
administration  of  President  McKinley.  It  was  therefore  prac- 
tically settled  that  the  Philippines,  and  perhaps  Cuba  and 
Porto  Rico  also,  should  become  a  permanent  part  of  the  terri- 
tory of  the  United  States.     And  vmdoubtedly  this  action  of 


472  THE   UNITED   STATES  book  in 

the  people  was  based  upon  honest  conviction.  The  Republic 
has  stood  for  free  and  honest  government ;  naturally,  therefore, 
its  citizens  believe  that  it  can  extend  to  less  highly  developed 
countries  a  pure  and  enlightened  rule.  But  they  ignore  the 
intensely  practical  and  self-satisfied  character  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  -mind.  Unquestionably  humane,  the  Anglo-Saxon  for- 
gets his  humanity  in  the  absorbing  struggle  for  self-advancement. 
Moral  sentiment  was  lost  sight  of  when  the  United  States 
craved  the  lands  of  the  native  Indians.  It  may  be  lost  sight 
of  again  as  the  task  of  ruling  distant  islands  taxes  the  nation's 
energies  through  a  long  series  of  years.  To-day  it  is  proposed 
to  give  the  islands  a  just  and  enlightened  government ;  to- 
morrow the  cry  may  be  that  any  American  is  good  enough  to 
govern  a  Filipino.  And  if  that  attitude  of  cynicism  is  once 
assumed,  America's  government  of  "  inferior  "  peoples  is  likely 
to  be  a  story  of  dishonor. 

It  is  with  mixed  feelings,  therefore,  that  the  thoughtful 
American  views  his  country's  past  and  looks  forward  to  its 
future.  The  Republic  of  the  United  States  has  now  existed 
for  over  a  century.  Originally  one  of  the  feeblest  of  nations, 
it  is  now  one  of  the  most  powerful.  No  European  country 
except  Russia  surpasses  it  in  population;  in  wealth  it  is 
equalled  by  no  country  in  the  world.  And  its  beneficent  gifts 
to  humanity  are  commensurate  with  its  greatness.  It  has  pro- 
vided a  home  for  the  struggling  and  oppressed.  It  has  given 
all  its  citizens  opportunity  to  rise.  It  has  shown  that  a  pure 
democracy  secures  the  greatest  good  to  the  greatest  number. 
In  no  other  country  in  the  world,  assuredly,  do  so  large  a  pro- 
portion of  the  people  live  in  comfort  and  contentment.  But 
the  Republic,  with  all  its  prosperity,  has  encountered  grave 
dangers  in  the  past;  it  may  encounter  still  graver  dangers  in 
the  future.  Even  now  it  exemplifies  the  truth  of  this  utterance, 
"Every  democracy  the  world  has  ever  known  has  exhibited 
two  dangerous  tendencies,  one  to  materialism,  and  the  other  to 
tyranny  by  the  majority."^  Materialism  does  indeed  threaten 
the  United  States.  The  riches  of  the  country  have  increased 
enormously  during  the  last  quarter  of  a  century,  and  with  their 
increase  has  come  arrogance,  luxury,  and  undue  valuation  of 
sensuous  and  material  pleasures.  And  the  very  growth  of 
1  From  an  address  by  President  Eliot  of  Harvard  University. 


CHAP.  X       CLEVELAND,    HARRISON,    AND   McKINLEY  473 

these  things  has  wrought  a  cleavage  in  the  social  life  of  the 
nation.  The  poor  man  has  learned  to  view  the  rich  man  as  his 
enemy.  Hence,  the  many,  prejudiced,  resentful,  communistic, 
and  aggressive,  are  banded  against  the  few ;  and  the  few,  to 
render  an  unequal  comljat  equal,  use  their  vast  wealth  to  make 
parties  and  legislatures  do  their  bidding.  And  so  political 
purity  is  ground  between  the  upper  and  nether  millstones. 
The  rule  of  the  majority  means  the  tyranny  of  crude  and 
undisciplined  minds ;  while  the  rule  of  the  few  means  the 
tyranny  of  insensate  and  insatiate  greed.  jNIoreover,  the  many 
and  the  few  sometimes  combine,  and  the  unprincipled  dema- 
gogue, with  vast  wealth  at  his  command,  becomes  the  vicious 
leader  of  a  horde  of  obsequious  henchmen.  From  such  unholy 
alliances  arise  corruption  in  cities,  unsound  legislation,  subser- 
vience to  party,  neglect  of  public  welfare,  and  a  whole  train  of 
political  evils  which  vitiate  the  life  of  the  nation. 

Accordingly,  the  patriotic  citizen  of  America  cannot  afford 
to  become  self-complacent  or  inactive.  In  spite  of  its  defects 
he  may  reasonably  regard  his  country  as  the  best  to  live  in  in 
the  world ;  but  he  has  also  to  see  that  he  can  only  keep  it  so 
by  untiring  and  strenuous  endeavor.  Great,  therefore,  is  the 
responsibility  that  rests  upon  the  American  people.  A  great 
democracy  could  hardly  be  built  upon  better  foundations  than 
have  been  laid  in  the  United  States,  and  the  failure  of  the 
Republic  would  be  a  disastrous  blow  to  the  cause  of  constitu- 
tional liberty.  It  is  for  the  patriots  of  the  land  to  prevent 
such  a  calamity,  and  "  highly  resolve  that  government  of  the 
people,  by  the  people,  for  the  people,  shall  not  perish  from  the 
earth." 


BOOK   lY 

SPANISH   AND   PORTUGUESE   AMERICA 


MEXICO 

CENTRAL   AMERICA 

Guatemala 

Honduras 

SAJiVADOB 

Nicaragua 
Costa  Rica 


SOUTH   AMERICA 

The  Argentine  Republic 

Bolivia 

Brazil 

Chili 

Colombia 

Ecuador 

Paraguay 

Peru 

Uruguay 

Venezuela 


CHAPTER  I 

MEXICO 

Conquered  by  Fernando  Cortez  in  1521,  Mexico  remained 
subject  to  Spain  for  just  three  hundred  years.  But  Spanish 
rule  was  as  harsh  and  oppressive  abroad  as  it  was  narrow  and 
unprogressive  at  home.  It  was  bitterly  hated  in  all  the 
Spanish  Colonies,  for  it  brought  the  colonists  little  besides 
persecution.  The  Mexicans  found  it  galling  in  the  extreme, 
and  if  they  submitted  to  it  patiently,  it  was  only  from  a  sense 
of  their  own  powerlessness.  Awed  by  the  soldiery,  they  could 
not  resent  abuses.  The  natives  were  enslaved,  the  mines  were 
worked  for  the  Spanish  Government,  education  was  kept  in 
the  hands  of  the  priests,  and  the  viceroys  were  usually  broken- 
down  courtiers  who  took  no  interest  in  the  land  they  ruled. 
Even  the  industries  natural  to  the  country  were  stilled  if  they 
could  by  any  possibility  rival  those  of  Spain.  The  Mexicans 
were  forbidden  to  cultivate  the  vine,  the  olive,  the  mulberry, 
and  fibre-yielding  plants ;  for  these  things  were  produced  in 
the  mother-country.  They  could  not  raise  sheep  lest  they 
should  injure  the  Spanish  wool  grower;  and  they  were  pro- 
hibited from  manufacturing  any  articles  that  were  fashioned 
in  Spain. 

It  was  not  strange,  then,  that  the  dawn  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury found  Mexico  in  a  ferment  of  discontent.  But  the  hatred 
of  the  people  was  not  directed  chiefly  against  the  Spanish 
Government.  What  the  Mexicans  desired  was  not  so  much 
independence  of  Spain  as  freedom  from  caste  distinctions  which 
allowed  prosperity  and  comfort  only  to  a  privileged  few.  Three 
classes  there  were  who  prospered  under  the  rule  of  Spain  :  the 
priests,  the  gachupins,  or  native  Spaniards,  and  the  army.  To 
these  alone  a  free,  easy,  and  comfortable  existence  was  possible. 
The  wealth  of  the  country,  the  emoluments  of  office,  and  the 

479 


480  SPANISH   AND   PORTUGUESE   AMERICA         book  iv 

honors  of  social  leadership  belonged  exclusively  to  the  members 
of  these  three  orders ;  all  others  were  kept  in  ignorance  and 
poverty  and  deprived  of  political  rights.  So  the  outbreak  that 
came  in  1810  ^  was  primarily  a  protest  against  an  intolerable 
class  rule,  and  against  the  movement  were  arrayed,  not  merely 
the  army,  as  representing  the  Spanish  Government,  but  the 
Church  and  the  aristocracy  as  well.  The  possessors  of  wealth 
and  privilege  had  no  mind  to  lose  their  preeminence  in  the 
country. 

The  leader  of  the  revolution  of  1810  was  a  parish  priest, 
Miguel  Hidalgo  y  Costilla,  who  has  been  termed  the  Father  of 
Mexican  Independence.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  army, 
the  Church,  and  the  gachupins  were  against  him,  he  gained 
some  important  victories.  Had  he  shown  greater  energy  at 
some  critical  moments,  he  might  possibly  have  brought  the 
revolution  to  a  speedy  and  successful  termination ;  but  he  was 
eventually  defeated  and  captured,  and  on  July  30,  1811,  he 
was  shot  with  other  leaders  of  the  movement.  His  place  was 
taken  by  Jose  Maria  IMorelos,  who  resembled  Hidalgo,  not 
merely  in  being  a  priest,  but  in  having  a  like  career  and  meet- 
ing the  same  fate.  He  was  shot  toward  the  end  of  December, 
1815.  Other  leaders  who  came  forward  to  head  the  movement 
for  independence  had  no  better  success,  and  an  interminable 
warfare  seemed  to  be  in  prospect.  For  Spain  could  not  crush 
the  people  into  absolute  submission,  and  no  more  could  the 
Mexicans  drive  the  Spaniards  out  of  the  country. 

But  in  1820  political  occurrences  in  Spain  gave  a  new  com- 
plexion to  the  Mexican  revolution.  In  that  year  the  Spanish 
army  proclaimed  the  liberal  Constitution  of  1812,  and  the 
gachupins  were  filled  with  alarm  lest  the  same  movement 
should  spread  in  Mexico  and  deprive  them  of  their  ascendency. 
If  Spain  could  adopt  a  liberal  Constitution,  Mexico  might 
follow  her  example.  They  considered  it  wise,  therefore,  to 
head  the  revolution  themselves,  and  turn  it  to  their  own 
advantage.  Augustin  de  Iturbide,  the  son  of  a  Spaniard  by  a 
Mexican  mother,  willingly  consented  to  lead  them,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  winning  the  confidence  of  Guerrero,  at  that  time  the 
leader  of  the  revolutionary  army.  So  the  popular  and  aristo- 
cratic elements  of  the  country  were  now  united,  and  were  too 
1  It  was  on  September  IG  that  the  first  uprising  occurred. 


CHAP.  I 


MEXICO  481 


strong  for  the  forces  of  the  Spanish  Government.  The  inde- 
pendence of  Mexico  was  secured  in  1821,  but  independence  did 
not  at  once  bring  the  triumph  of  liberal  principles  and  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  republican  form  of  government.  It  was  through 
the  aristocracy  that  the  revolution  was  successful,  and  the  aris- 
tocracy now  controlled  the  situation.  Ferdinand  VII.,  whose 
Spanish  subjects  were  discontented  under  his  rule,  was  invited 
to  become  King  of  Mexico,  and  the  Catholic  religion  was  recog- 
nized as  of  sole  authority  in  the  State.  But  though  a  treaty 
embodying  this  arrangement  was  signed  by  General  O'Donoju, 
the  last  viceroy  of  Mexico,  Spain  naturally  refused  to  ratify  it. 
So  the  aristocracy,  unable  to  establish  a  monarchy,  determined 
to  create  an  empire.  Still  accepting  the  leadership  of  Iturbide, 
they  crowned  him  Emperor  on  June  21,  1822. 

But  the  Conservatives  and  the  Church  could  not  retain  their 
ascendency.  The  men  who  for  ten  years  had  been  struggling 
to  free  Mexico  from  Spain  were  not  disposed  to  sit  quietly 
under  the  rule  of  an  oligarchy.  Seeing  that  the  empire  did  not 
give  them  the  freedom  they  had  been  lighting  for,  they  turned 
against  it  and  overthrew  Iturbide,  after  he  had  reigned  about 
ten  months.  And  now  the  Liberals,  having  gained  control  of 
affairs,  determined  to  establish  a  liberal  form  of  government. 
They  took  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  as  their 
model,  arbitrarily  divided  the  country  into  sections  called 
states,  and  made  it  a  Republic.  The  Constitution  upon  which 
the  new  government  was  based  was  proclaimed  on  October  4, 
1824. 

But  Mexico  had  had  no  experience  in  self-government,  and 
was  not  ready  for  republican  institutions.  For  three  centuries 
her  people  had  been  under  an  absolute  sway.  The  duties  of 
citizenship  they  did  not  understand  and  were  by  no  means 
anxious  to  discharge.  Hence  the  new  order  of  things  did  not 
bring  peace  and  prosperity  to  the  country.  On  the  contrary, 
it  brought  the  Liberals  into  sharp  conflict  with  the  Church 
party  and  the  Conservatives,  and  for  a  long  term  of  years  the 
unhappy  land  was  the  scene  of  disorder  and  of  petty  revolu- 
tions. Settled  government  was  impossible.  Adventurers  prof- 
ited by  the  unceasing  strife  of  parties,  and,  as  presidents  or 
dictators,  succeeded  each  other  with  astonishing  rapidity.  The 
man  with  the  strongest  following  overcame  his  rivals  and 
2i 


482  SPANISH   AND   PORTUGUESE  AMERICA        book  iv 

ruled,  until  lie  was  driven  from  power  by  some  new  aspirant 
for  the  honors  and  emoluments  of  office. 

Naturally  the  Liberal  cause  was  weakened  by  this  condition 
of  affairs.  As  one  adventurer  followed  another  and  constitu- 
tional government  appeared  to  exist  only  in  name,  the  Church 
party  regained  its  ascendency.  Seeing  its  opponents  disorgan- 
ized and  disunited,  it  secured  the  overthrow  of  the  Republic 
by  the  assistance  of  Santa  Anna,  the  most  notorious  of  all  the 
Mexican  adventurers  of  this  period.  Without  political  prin- 
ciples or  fixed  party  ties,  he  was  always  ready  to  unite  with 
any  cause  that  promised  to  be  successful.  So  he  did  not  now 
hesitate  to  ally  himself  with  the  Churchmen,  although  he  had 
joined  in  the  movement  against  Itui'bide  and  had  helped  to 
establish  the  Republic  in  1824.  But,  unscrupulous  though  he 
was,  he  was  not  without  ability.  The  Churchmen  found  him 
a  useful  tool,  and,  having  overcome  opposition,  they  proclaimed 
a  new  Constitution  on  December  29,  1836.  But  as  this  was 
still  too  liberal  for  them,  they  issued  a  more  conservative  one 
on  June  13,  1843. 

Thus  the  Liberals  lost  for  a  time  the  control  of  affairs,  which 
they  had  kept  imperfectly  for  about  ten  years.  But  the  Church 
party  did  not  long  remain  in  power.  The  wealth  and  the  aris- 
tocracy of  the  country  were  at  its  service,  but  it  could  not  pre- 
vent the  growth  of  liberal  ideas.  For,  during  the  long  period 
of  anarchy  and  turbulence  that  succeeded  the  overthrow  of 
Spanish  tyranny,  the  nation  was  gradually  gaining  the  power 
of  self-government.  For  a  long  time,  indeed,  the  gain  was  more 
apparent  than  real.  The  masses  were  ignorant;  the  priest- 
hood and  the  aristocracy  resisted  progress;  the  workings  of 
constitutional  government  were  but  slightly  understood.  So 
revolution  followed  revolution,  and  it  seemed  as  if  it  were 
impossible  to  establish  the  reign  of  order  and  law.  But  through 
those  trying  years  of  change  and  violence  the  country  was  pre- 
paring to  break  away  from  the  intolerant  rule  of  the  priests 
and  the  aristocracy.  That  rule  they  set  aside  when  Iturbide 
was  overthrown  in  1822 ;  they  set  it  aside  again  in  1847,  only 
four  years  after  the  Conservatives  had  adopted  their  new  Con- 
stitution and  arranged  matters  entirely  to  their  liking.  Bat 
this  was  the  burning  period  of  foreign  war  and  national  humil- 
iation.    The  United  States  picked  a  quarrel  with  Mexico  to 


CHAP.  I  MEXICO  483 

further  an  unjust  cause,  and  wrested  from  the  country  two 
fifths  of  its  territory  (p.  409).  Had  the  nation  been  strongly 
and  efficiently  governed,  it  might  have  made  a  more  determined 
resistance  to  its  invaders.  As  it  was,  the  Mexican  soldiers 
could  do  nothing  but  tight  gallantly  and  suffer  defeat.  For 
in  a  war  that  lasted  only  sixteen  months  the  administration 
changed  hands  several  times;  so  a  vigorous  and  consistent  war 
policy  was  rendered  impossible.  Thoroughly  vanquished,  the 
nation  sadly  submitted  to  the  conditions  imposed  by  its  con- 
querors, and  was  once  more  given  over  to  civil  discord. 

And  for  some  years  there  was  no  perceptible  improvement 
in  its  condition.  Fresh  revolutions  came,  but,  as  formerly, 
they  brought  change  without  bringing  progress.  Sometimes, 
indeed,  the  coiirse  of  events  was  backward.  In  1853  Santa 
Anna  came  once  more  to  the  front,  and,  supported  by  the 
Church  party,  made  himself  master  of  the  country  and  ruled 
in  the  interests  of  the  priests  and  the  aristocracy.  But  the 
Liberals  drove  him  out  of  the  country  in  1855,  and  with  their 
fresh  accession  to  power  began  a  new  and  more  promising  era. 
For  federal  government  was  again  established ;  a  Liberal  leader. 
General  Alvarez,  was  made  President,  and  i;nder  him  a  states- 
man of  remarkable  ability  came  forward  to  lead  the  nation. 
Benito  Juarez,  a  full-blooded  Lidian  of  the  Zapoteca  tribe,  was 
born  March  21,  1806.  He  gained  a  knowledge  of  Spanish  and 
the  rudiments  of  education  from  a  priest,  who,  finding  the  boy 
gifted  with  a  remarkable  mind,  had  him  placed  in  an  ecclesi- 
astical seminary  and  trained  for  the  priestliood.  But  the 
youth  preferred  politics  to  the  Church.  He  became  a  lawyer, 
attracted  notice  by  his  professional  skill,  and  held  various 
political  offices.  Upright,  fearless,  and  unselfish,  he  became 
one  of  the  ablest  and  most  trusted  leaders  of  the  Liberal  party. 
Alvarez,  on  being  made  provisional  President,  appointed  him 
Secretary  of  Justice,  and  it  was  in  this  official  position  that 
he  began  his  famous  war  upon  the  priesthood  which  ended  in 
their  complete  political  overthrow.  His  first  step  was  to  take 
from  the  clergy  their  political  privileges,  which  entitled  them 
to  be  tried  for  all  offences  in  special  courts  composed  of  mem- 
bers of  their  own  order,  and  thus  to  violate  law  without  being 
brouglit  to  justice.  For  no  priests  were  ever  willing  to  find  a 
fellow-priest  guilty. 


484  SPANISH  AND   PORTUGUESE   AMERICA        book  iv 

The  law  by  which  this  privilege  was  abolished  was  issued 
on  November  23,  I800,  while  Alvarez  was  still  President. 
But  on  the  12th  of  the  following  December  Alvarez  was  suc- 
ceeded by  General  Ignacio  Comonfort,  a  remarkable  man,  who 
at  first  upheld  Juarez  in  his  war  upon  the  Church.  On  June  2, 
1856,  he  issued  a  law  which  forbade  corporations  to  hold  land ; 
and,  as  the  Church  Avas  the  only  corporation  then  existing  in 
Mexico,  it  was  obliged  to  sell  its  real  estate.  This  law  and 
that  of  Juarez  were  so  unwelcome  to  the  clergy  that  they 
fomented  insurrections  against  the  Government ;  but  these 
outbreaks  Comonfort  suppressed  with  a  vigorous  hand.  He 
did  not,  however,  long  continue  loyal  to  the  Constitution  he 
had  helped  establish.  The  Constitution  was  adopted  on  Feb- 
ruary 5,  1857,  and  in  December  of  the  same  year  Comonfort 
went  over  to  the  Church  party  and  threw  Juarez  into  prison. 
Soon  realizing  that  he  had  made  a  serious  error  and  had  in- 
creased instead  of  quieting  civil  discord,  he  tried  to  remedy 
his  mistake.  He  released  Juarez  and  did  his  utmost  to  put 
down  the  rebellious  Church  party ;  but  his  change  of  heart 
came  too  late.  Baffled  on  every  hand,  he  sailed  from  the 
country  on  February  7,  1858,  and  left  Juarez  to  continue  the 
struggle  against  the  triumphant  Churchmen. 

But  the  Churchmen  did  not  long  continue  triumphant. 
On  July  12  and  13,  1859,  Juarez  gained  a  decided  advan- 
tage over  them  by  confiscating  the  Church  property  and  abol- 
ishing religious  orders.  True,  the  capital  and  most  of  the 
larger  cities  were  in  the  hands  of  the  Church  party,  and 
the  Liberal  forces,  which  were  for  a  time  outnumbered,  at 
first  suffered  many  defeats.  But  Juarez,  single-minded  in 
his  devotion  to  liberal  principles,  did  not  for  a  moment  lose 
heart.  He  made  Vera  Cruz  his  capital,  established  there  a 
constitutional  government,  and  finally  succeeded  in  routing 
his  opponents  at  the  battle  of  Calpulalpan  on  December  22, 
1860.  Though  civil  war  was  still  continued,  Juarez  was  now 
strong  enough  to  order  a  general  election ;  and  in  March,  1861, 
he  was  formally  chosen  President.  But  great  difficulties  faced 
him.  The  treasury  was  empty,  and  the  Government,  unable 
to  meet  its  financial  obligations,  suspended  the  payment  of 
interest  to  its  foreign  bondholders  for  two  years.  The  foreign- 
ers residing  in  Mexico  were  also  treated  with  indignity,  and 


CHAP.  I  MEXICO  485 

the  French,  English,  and  Spanish  Governments  felt  called 
upon  to  interfere  in  behalf  of  their  subjects.  Accordingly, 
Mexico  was  invaded  by  Spanish  troops  in  December,  1861,  and 
an  army  from  France  and  a  naval  force  from  England  soon 
arrived  to  enforce  the  demands  of  these  powers.  But  England 
and  Spain  soon  made  satisfactory  terms  with  Mexico  and  with- 
drew their  forces ;  France,  misguided  by  Louis  Napoleon's 
ambition,  continued  the  struggle  alone.  Her  well-disciplined 
troops  proved  too  formidable  for  the  poorly  trained  forces  of 
Juarez.  The  City  of  Mexico  fell  into  their  hands  in  June, 
1863,  and,  through  the  machinations  of  Napoleon,  Maximilian, 
Archduke  of  Austria,  was  proclaimed  Emperor. 

But  Juarez  did  not  give  up  the  struggle.  Undaunted  by  the 
triumph  of  the  imperialist  cause,  he  maintained  a  republican 
government  in  the  northern  part  of  the  country,  encouraged 
the  Mexicans  to  cling  fast  to  their  independence,  and,  though 
forced  at  one  time  to  flee  into  Texas,  did  not  abandon  hope. 
And,  even  when  his  prospects  were  darkest,  his  triumph  came. 
Released  from  the  strain  of  civil  war,  the  United  States  Gov- 
ernment urged  Napoleon  to  withdraw  his  forces  from  Mexico. 
The  French  Emperor  complied,  and  Maximilian,  left  to  him- 
self, was  unable  to  cope  with  Juarez.  Captured  by  treachery, 
he  was  shot  on  June  li),  1867.  Ever  ready  to  face  emergencies 
and  assume  responsibility,  Juarez  now  usurped  authority  for 
a  time,  as  his  presidential  term  had  expired ;  but  he  was  re- 
elected in  August,  1867,  and  again  in  1871,  and  in  the  few 
brief  years  that  remained  to  him  he  endeavored  to  (;rush  insur- 
rection, iniite  the  country,  and  carry  out  reforms.  But  he  died 
suddenly  at  Mexico  on  July  18,  1872. 

More  than  half  a  century  had  now  passed  since  Mexico 
gained  her  independence  in  1821,  and  settled  peace  and  pros- 
perity had  not  yet  visited  the  nation.  Even  so  able  a  man  as 
Juarez  had  not  succeeded  in  ending  civil  dissension,  for  at  the 
time  of  his  death  rebellion  was  still  active.  Yet  the  country 
had  learned  much  in  fifty  years  of  turbulence  and  discord. 
It  had  sliaken  off  the  rule  of  the  priesthood ;  it  was  weary  of 
revolutions,  and  eager  for  the  unbroken  reign  of  law  and  order. 
Though  the  people  were  not  yet  ready  to  govern  themselves, 
they  were  ready  to  welcome  the  strong  man,  who,  preserving 
the  forms  of  constitutionalism,  would  make  his  rule  thoroughly 


486  SPANISH  AND   PORTUGUESE   AMERICA        book  iv 

respected  and  govern  in  tlie  interests  of  the  nation.  And  such 
a  man  appeared,  to  cany  on  the  work  which  Juarez  had  begun 
but  had  not  completed.  For  among  the  very  men  who  resisted 
the  authority  of  Juarez  by  armed  force  was  Porfirio  Diaz,  who, 
from  being  an  unsuccessful  leader  of  insurrection,  became  the 
honored  and  undisputed  head  of  the  nation.  Not  that  he 
came  into  power  immediately  after  the  death  of  Juarez.  Lerdo 
de  Tejada  was  elected  President  in  August,  1872,  and  for  a 
time  Diaz  submitted  to  his  rule.  But  Lerdo,  though  an  esti- 
mable man,  could  not  keep  the  nation  tranquil.  Signs  of  dis- 
cord were  soon  apparent,  and  Diaz,  acting  not  as  an  adventurer 
but  as  a  patriot,  once  more  drew  the  sword  of  rebellion.  His 
first  attack  upon  the  Government  was  made  in  March,  1876. 
Before  a  year  had  passed  he  had  made  himself  master  of  the 
country,  having  forced  Lerdo  to  retire,  and  defeated  Iglesias, 
who  assumed  the  presidency  after  Lerdo's  downfall.  On 
February  18,  1877,  Diaz  was  elected  President  of  the  Kepublic 
of  Mexico. 

Born  on  September  15,  1830,  he  was  now  in  the  full  vigor  of 
his  powers.  By  the  force  of  circumstances  he  had  led  the  life 
of  an  adventurer,  for  he  had  been  engaged  in  many  wars  and 
revolutions,  and  had  met  with  several  hairbreadth  escapes ;  but 
he  was  not  an  adventurer  at  heart.  Possessing  the  breadth 
of  a  statesman  and  the  decision  of  a  born  leader  of  men, 
he  now  devoted  all  his  energies  to  securing  an  era  of  tran- 
quillity and  progress  for  his  country.  And  his  efforts  were 
thoroughly  successful.  After  holding  his  office  for  over  three 
years  and  establishing  order,  he  was  succeeded  by  his  friend, 
IVIanuel  Gonzalez;  for  the  Constitution  did  not  then  allow  a 
President  to  be  reelected.  But  this  law  was  changed.  Succes- 
sive reflections  were  made  legal ;  and  Diaz,  becoming  President 
again  in  1884,  held  the  office  uninterruptedly  for  four  terms. 

It  is  impossible  to  recount  in  a  brief  space  all  the  reforms 
that  have  been  accomplished  by  this  remarkable  man.  The 
law  was  made  supreme  throughout  the  land,  and  brigandage 
disappeared.  The  public  service  was  made  efficient  and  scru- 
pulously clean.  Kail  road  building  was  encouraged  by  govern- 
ment subsidies,  and  the  country  now  has  more  than  forty 
railroads,  and  nearly  seven  thousand  miles  of  track.  The  tele- 
graph and  telephone  systems  have  also  received  the  attention  of 


CHAP.  I  MEXICO  487 

the  Government,  which  has  controlled  the  rates  and  required 
efficient  service.  Educational  progress  has  been  slow,  for 
ignorance  and  illiteracy  were  general ;  but  for  a  time  the 
Government  aided  the  municipalities  in  this  work  by  a  grant 
of  f  1,000,000  a  year,  and  in  July,  180G,  it  took  the  schools 
under  its  charge  in  order  to  secure  commonness  of  aim  and 
method.  Many  hospitals  have  been  built,  and  the  sanitary 
condition  of  the  cities  has  been  greatly  improved  by  the  con- 
struction of  drains  and  sewers. 

As  these  changes  have  taken  place,  trade  and  commerce 
have  grown  active  and  the  country  has  become  prosperous. 
For  its  natural  riches  are  great,  and  foreign  capital  began  to 
flow  into  it  when  the  rights  of  property  were  made  secure. 
Ma.ny  of  the  mines  of  Mexico  are  worked  by  English  and 
American  companies,  and  cotton  mills  and  other  factories  are 
being  erected  both  by  native  and  foreign  capitalists.  Already 
the  country  would  seem  to  have  fulfilled  the  expectations 
expressed  by  one  of  its  own  citizens  soon  after  Maximilian's 
downfall :  "  Within  a  brief  period  we  shall  hold  our  elections 
for  the  functionaries  to  be  chosen  by  the  people,  and  we  shall 
then  enter  again  into  our  constitutional  existence,  somewhat 
interrupted  by  the  French  intervention.  Our  policy  will  then 
be  to  enforce  our  laws,  which  will  allow  the  free  exercise  of 
all  religions  and  give  no  preference  to  any,  which  provide  a 
perfect  separation  between  Clmrch  and  State;  to  establish  a 
system  of  free  schools  which  will  educate  the  masses  of  our 
people,  and  make  them  productive  and  happy ;  to  encourage 
the  immigration  of  peaceable  and  laboring  citizens  of  the 
United  States,  which  will  assist  us  in  developing  our  resources ; 
to  invite  the  investment  of  the  surplus  capital  of  the  United 
States  in  Mexican  enterprises,  and  to  look  up  to  this  privi- 
leged country  as  our  eldest  sister,  affording  us  an  example 
worthy  of  imitation.''  ^ 

Portions  of  Mexico  which  are  particularly  rich  and  have 
been  well  developed  are  among  the  richest  and  most  productive 
spots  in  the  world.  If  revolutionary  disturbances  can  be  pre- 
vented, there  would  seem  to  be  no  limit  to  Mexico's  future 

•  The  quntatidii  is  from  a  speech  delivered  hy  Senor  Mafias  Romero  at  a 
banquet  tendered  him  at  New  York  on  October  2,  18(i7.  Tlie  speech  is  given 
in  full  in  Senor  Romero's  work,  "  Mexico  and  the  United  States." 


488  SPANISH  AND   PORTUGUESE   AMERICA        book  iv 

growth  and  development.  And  that  revohitions  will  be  pre- 
vented there  is  good  reason  to  believe.  For  the  country  can- 
not forget  that  it  has  had  a  statesmanlike  and  progressive  rule 
for  nearly  a  generation.  During  that  time  it  has  had  ample 
opportunity  to  learn  that  nothing  makes  a  country  so  pros- 
perous as  the  unbroken  reign  of  law  and  order.  The  Mexicans 
have  been  forced  to  see  that  the  rule  of  Diaz  fostered  industry, 
promoted  all  manner  of  commercial  enterprises,  brought  foreign 
capital  into  the  country,  and  bound  it  to  the  great  neighbor 
Republic  by  close  and  substantial  ties.  That  these  lessons  of  a 
prosperous  era  will  be  forgotten,  it  is  hard  to  believe.  Mexico 
may  not  for  generations  produce  another  statesman  like  Diaz, 
for  Diaz  is  one  of  the  great  men  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
But  if  it  accepts  his  administration  as  its  standard  of  govern- 
ment, it  cannot  readily  tolerate  corrupt  and  inefficient  rule. 

Mexico  is  a  federative  republic,  consisting  of  twenty-seven 
States,  two  Territories  and  a  Federal  District.  Each  State  has 
its  own  Constitution ;  its  own  governor  and  legislature,  popu- 
larly elected;  and  the  right  to  manage  its  own  local  affairs. 
But  these  States  are  bound  together  into  one  body  politic  by 
a  national  Constitution,  which  provides  for  the  three  branches 
of  government,  the  executive,  the  legislative,  and  the  judiciary. 
The  President  is  chosen  indirectly  for  four  years  by  a  special 
body  of  electors  who  are  voted  for  by  the  people.  There 
are  two  legislative  Houses,  the  Senate  and  the  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives ;  the  members  of  the  former  House  are  chosen 
for  six  years,  and  those  of  the  latter  for  two.  The  suffrage 
belongs  to  all  male  adults  of  respectable  character.  There  are 
three  classes  of  federal  courts  ;  the  Supreme  Court,  the  circuit 
courts,  and  the  district  courts.  In  its  judicial  system,  as  in 
many  of  its  constitutional  arrangements,  Mexico  imitates  the 
United  States ;  but,  in  imitating,  it  has  taken  the  form  with- 
out the  spirit.  For  Mexican  legal  processes  are  based  upon 
the  Roman  Code,  and  differ  radically  from  those  of  the  United 
States  or  England.  Trial  by  jury  exists,  but  a  majority  ver- 
dict is  sufficient  for  conviction  or  acquittal.^ 

1  Romero's  "  Mexico  and  the  United  States  "  contains  an  interesting  chap- 
ter on  Mexican  courts  and  legal  methods.  Tlie  writer  contends  that  the 
Mexican  judicial  system  convicts  criminals  and  protects  society  better  than 
that  of  the  United  States. 


CHAP.  I  MEXICO  489 

The  prevailing  religion  is  the  Koman  Catholic ;  but  there  is  no 
State  Church,  and  entire  freedom  of  worship  is  allowed.  Edu- 
cation is  free  and  compulsory  in  nearly  all  the  States ;  but  the 
law  is  not  strictly  enforced,  and  illiteracy  is  common. 

Mexico  has  an  area  of  767,005  square  miles,  and  a  population 
of  about  13,000,000. 


CHAPTEE   II 

CENTRAL    AMERICA 

Central  America,  which  includes  the  territory  lying  be- 
tween the  southern  boundary  of  Mexico  and  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama,  passed  under  the  control  of  Spain  early  in  the  sixteenth 
century.  In  those  days  of  conquest  and  adventure,  rival 
Spanish  commanders  contended  for  supremacy  in  this  wild 
and  mountainous  country,  which  became  a  veritable  "  dark 
and  bloody  ground."  For  not  only  did  many  Spaniards  perish 
in  these  conflicts,  but  hundreds  of  thousands  of  the  Indians, 
who  were  put  to  slavery  and  treated  with  great  cruelty,  were 
ruthlessly  sacrificed.  But  these  petty  wars  of  ambitious  sol- 
diers were  brought  to  an  end  by  the  Spanish  Government, 
which,  soon  after  Cortez'  famous  journey  into  Hondu.ras  in 
1525,  constituted  Central  America  and  a  portion  of  southern 
Mexico  into  the  Captain-Generalship  of  Guatemala.  Becom- 
ing thus  one  of  the  nine  provinces  into  which  the  Spanish 
possessions  in  Central  America  were  divided,  Central  America 
had  an  uneventful  history  for  nearly  three  hundred  years.  It 
received  little  attention  from  Spain ;  its  resources  were  not 
developed ;  and  so  scant  was  its  population,  apart  from  the 
native  Indians,  that  no  body  of  soldiery  was  maintained  within 
its  borders. 

Accordingly,  the  resident  Spanish  officials  were  ill  prepared 
to  resist  the  revolutionary  movement,  which,  inaugurated  both 
in  Mexico  and  in  South  America  in  1810,  spread  in  time 
into  the  intervening  province  of  Guatemala.  Though  the 
struggle  for  independence  was  elsewhere  long  and  desper- 
ate, in  Guatemala  the  revolution  was  effected  without  blood- 
shed. Not  until  the  rebellion  to  the  north  and  south  of  them 
seemed  sure  to  succeed,  did  the  people  of  Central  America 
declare  against   the   Spanish   Government ;   and  accordingly, 

490 


CHAP.  II  CENTRAL  AMERICA  491 

wheu  they  took  the  step,  the  Captain-General  and  his  followers 
had  no  course  open  to  them  but  flight. 

But,  though  relieved  from  the  rule  of  Spain,  Central  America 
did  not  at  once  obtain  a  free  and  separate  existence.  Annexed 
by  Mexico  in  spite  of  the  emphatic  protests  of  nearly  all  the 
provinces,  it  made  a  portion  of  Iturbide's  unstable  and  short- 
lived empire.  But  when  Mexico  became  a  republic  in  1823, 
the  Central  American  provinces,  with  the  exception  of  the 
district  of  Chiapas  (which  still  forms  the  southernmost  prov- 
ince of  Mexico),  succeeded  in  establishing  their  independence. 
Driving  out  the  ]\Iexican  officials,  the  provinces  attempted 
to  set  up  their  own  government.  But  this  task  they  found 
arduous  and  perplexing.  The  province  of  Guatemala,  as  con- 
stituted by  Spaiu,  had  been  divided  into  several  intendancies, 
but  these  intendancies,  now  that  they  had  acquired  their  inde- 
pendence, were  not  disposed  to  become  sovereign  states.  As 
they  had  formerly  been  under  the  rule  of  one  captain-general, 
they  felt  that  they  should  now  properly  belong  to  one  federa- 
tion, and  thus  attain  to  national  power  and  dignity.  ^Moreover, 
they  had  the  example  of  the  United  States  to  inspire  them 
with  the  desire  of  forming  one  united  country.  But  federa- 
tion, as  a  means  of  combining  separate  states  into  a  nation, 
was  still  an  experiment.  Even  in  the  case  of  the  American 
Union  the  result  of  the  experiment  was  still  uncertain,  and  in 
Central  America  there  existed  even  greater  obstacles  to  the 
success  of  a  federative  movement.  The  intendancies  were  sepa- 
rated by  high  mountains  and  dense  forests  ;  they  bordered  upon 
two  different  oceans;  and  their  people  were  for  the  most  part  un- 
educated and  excitable,  and  easily  swayed  by  savage  emotions. 

In  spite  of  these  adverse  conditions,  the  feeling  in  behalf  of 
union  was  strong  and  widespread.  There  existed  two  political 
parties  in  Central  America,  the  Liberals  and  the  Serviles,  and 
the  members  of  the  former  were  ardently  in  favor  of  uniting 
all  Central  America  into  one  republic.  The  Liberals  were 
the  party  of  the  people  ;  they  were  alert,  active,  and,  consider- 
ing how  few  of  them  were  well  educated,  remarkably  broad 
and  progressive.  Could  they  have  labored  under  more  favor- 
able circumstances,  they  might  have  established  an  enlightened 
and  enduring  nation.  Certainly  their  efforts  in  this  direction 
are  worthy  of  all  praise,  and  their  struggles,  even  though  hope- 


492  SPANISH  AND    PORTUGUESE  AMERICA        book  iv 

less  from  the  first,  deserve  more  sympathy  and  consideration 
than  is  usually  given  them  by  the  student  of  political  history. 
Espousing  the  cause  of  republicanism  when  they  had  almost 
everything  against  them,  the  Liberals  of  Central  America 
fought,  suffered,  and  died  for  their  country,  kept  the  Federa- 
tion alive  when  it  seemed  to  have  hopelessly  perished,  and 
remained  true  to  their  political  ideals  amid  persecution,  danger, 
and  exile.  Even  in  failing  they  yet  succeeded,  for  they  showed 
that  there  must  be  a  future  for  a  country  which  developed  men 
of  such  sterling  and  unquenchable  patriotism. 

Owing  to  the  unhappy  political  condition  of  the  Central 
American  peoples,  the  Liberals,  as  has  been  already  suggested, 
encountered  enough  to  make  them  fail ;  but  the  greatest 
obstacle  to  their  success  lay  in  the  character  of  their  political 
opponents.  Eor  the  Serviles  were  as  unscrupulous  as  they 
were  bigoted  and  narrow.  Representing  the  aristocracy  and 
the  priesthood,  clinging  fast  to  wealth  and  privilege  and  bitterly 
opposed  to  the  rule  of  the  majority,  these  men  were  determined 
to  defeat  the  republican  movement  by  any  means,  fair  or  foul. 
Accordingly,  they  used  bribery,  intrigue,  and  broken  faith  in 
the  political  arena,  and  on  the  field  of  battle  they  were  treach- 
erous and  cruel.  That  the  Liberals  themselves  were  always  lib- 
eral, clean-handed,  and  merciful  can  by  no  means  be  asserted  ; 
but  in  the  long  conflicts  between  the  friends  and  the  enemies  of 
the  Federation  it  was  the  Serviles  who  were  guilty  of  the  worst 
atrocities  and  violations  of  faith. ^ 

It  was  not  under  promising  auspices,  therefore,  that  a  single 
sovereign  state  was  formed  out  of  the  different  intendancies  in 
1823.  The  new  state  was  designated  the  Republic  of  Central 
America,  and  Guatemala,  the  chief  city  of  the  intendancy  of 
Guatemala,  was  selected  as  its  capital.  The  Constituent  As- 
sembly, which  founded  the  Republic,  adopted,  after  a  long 
debate  and  fierce  opposition  from  the  Serviles,  an  extremely 
liberal  Constitution,  by  which  the  right  of  habeas  corpus,  the 
liberty  of  the  press,  representative  government,  and  the  aboli- 
tion of  slavery  were  secured.  This  Constitution,  first  published 
on  December  27,  1823,  was  decreed  on  November  22,  1824 ; 
and,  in  accordance  with  its  provisions,  the  Representatives  of 
the  new  Republic  assembled  at  Guatemala  for  the  first  time  on 
1  Squier's  "Nicaragua,"  II.  389  et  seq. 


CHAP.  II  CENTRAL   AMERICA  493 

February  6,  1825.  They  were  thirty-four  in  uuniber,  of  whom 
Gviatemala  sent  seventeen,  Salvador  nine,  Honduras  six, 
Nicaragua  six,  and  Costa  Kica  two.  A  little  later  a  Federal 
Senate,  consisting  of  two  members  from  each  State,  also  met  in 
the  capital.  General  Arce,  a  soldier  of  some  distinction,  was 
elected  President,  and  in  the  following  April  was  formally 
placed  in  office. 

For  a  short  time  the  path  of  the  Republic  was  fairly  smooth ; 
and  under  its  enlightened  policy  some  progress  was  made  in 
education,  trade,  and  commerce.  But  the  intrigues  of  the 
Serviles  soon  brought  this  era  of  prosperity  to  an  end.  Mak- 
ing Guatemala  the  centre  of  their  machinations,  these  unscrupu- 
lous plotters  sowed  dissension  throughout  the  entire  country, 
and  brought  on  a  long  and  sanguinary  struggle  between  the 
two  great  parties,  which  only  ended  with  the  collapse  of  the 
Republic.  For,  finding  that  the  very  existence  of  the  Federa- 
tion was  imperilled,  the  Liberals  rallied  to  its  defence,  and 
under  the  lead  of  Francisco  Morazan  they  were  for  some  years 
successftd  in  holding  the  Serviles  in  check.  This  devoted 
Republican,  who  was  born  in  Honduras  in  1799,  showed  rare 
ability  both  as  a  general  and  as  a  statesman,  and  was  for  a 
number  of  years  the  most  conspicuous  figure  in  Central  Amer- 
ica.^ His  career  was  full  of  adventures  and  vicissitudes.  He 
first  took  the  field  in  1827,  when  the  forces  of  Guatemala, 
which  was  usurping  the  powers  of  the  Federal  Government  in 
a  thoroughly  unconstitutional  manner,  marched  against  Hon- 
duras. Taken  prisoner  in  this  campaign,  he  succeeded  in 
making  his  escape,  and  for  thirteen  years  he  prosecuted  a 
vigorous  and  unrelenting  warfare  against  the  enemies  of  the 
Republic.  And,  although  he  had  to  contend  with  cruel  and 
barbarous  foes  who  had  no  regard  for  the  laws  of  civilized 
warfare,  he  always  restrained  his  men  from  outrages  so  far  as 
he  could,  and  made  them  respect  life  and  property.  For  a 
time  he  was  eminently  successful  in  his  efforts  to  uphold  the 
Federation;  and  in  1834  he  was  so  far  master  of  the  situation 
that  he  made  the  city  of  San  Salvador,  in  the  State  of  Salva- 
dor, the  capital  of  the  Republic,  in  place  of  Guatemala,  which 
had  become  a  nest  of  disloyalty. 

1  In  Stephens's  "Incidents  of  Travel  in  Centrul  America"  maybe  fdiiiul 
an  interesting  description  of  Morazau's  cliaracter  and  appearance,  Vol.  II. 
Chs.  v.,  VI. 


494  SPANISH   AND    PORTUGUESE   AMERICA         book  iv 

But  Morazau's  enemies  were  too  numerous  and  too  adroit  to 
be  kept  in  subjection.  As  time  passed,  the  cause  of  the  Re- 
public became  hopeless ;  for  dissension  appeared  even  in  the 
ranks  of  the  Liberals,  and  it  became  apparent  that  the  devoted 
and  consistent  friends  of  the  Federation  were  too  few  in  number 
to  preserve  it.  To  thwart  and  overcome  Morazan,  appeared  Car- 
rera,  a  man  of  Indian  and  negro  parentage,  coarse,  brutal,  igno- 
rant, and  vicious,  but  audacious,  shrewd,  and  cunning.  Soon  after 
Morazan  first  took  the  field,  Carrera  opposed  him  vigorously ; 
but  for  some  time  he  proved  rather  a  bitter  and  determined, 
than  a  formidable,  antagonist.  After  a  time,  however,  Carrera's 
power  seemed  to  increase  even  as  that  of  Morazan  declined. 
Carrera  had  indeed  all  the  advantages  that  belong  to  a  man 
without  conscience  and  without  honor.  He  circulated  false 
stories  about  his  enemies ;  he  wrought  upon  the  superstition 
of  the  people  and  the  Indian  natives;  and  in  a  country  where 
ignorance  was  general  and  unreasoning,  fear  was  easily  excited. 
These  unscrupulous  methods  were  a  powerful  weapon  in  his 
hands.  By  the  year  1838  Morazan  and  the  Liberals  were 
practically  defeated,  and  the  Republic  was  seen  to  be  a  failure. 
For  two  years  longer,  however,  Morazan  kept  up  the  struggle ; 
and  even  after  he  was  obliged  to  retire  to  Peru  in  1840  with  a 
few  chosen  followers,  he  did  not  give  up  hope.  Gathering 
a  force  about  him  there,  he  invaded  Costa  Rica  in  1842  and 
planned  to  reestablish  the  federal  authority  all  over  Central 
America.  But  he  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  opposing  forces 
and  was  shot. 

AVhen  the  Republic  collapsed,  in  1838,  the  five  States  of 
Guatemala,  Honduras,  Salvador,  Nicaragua,  and  Costa  Rica  be- 
came separate  and  independent.  But  not  all  of  these  States 
had  abandoned  the  hope  of  federation.  The  three  central  ones, 
Honduras,  Salvador,  and  Nicaragua,  hoped  to  bring  about  a  new 
federal  union,  and  to  this  end  they  called  a  national  conven- 
tion in  1842.  To  this  call  Costa  Rica  made  no  response,  and 
the  new  Republic  that  was  formed  out  of  the  remaining  four 
States  had  hardly  more  than  a  nominal  existence.  It  collapsed 
entirely  in  1847,  and  from  that  time  Guatemala  as  well  as  Costa 
Rica  declined  all  overtures  to  establish  a  new  confederation. 

But  the  other  three  States,  Honduras,  Salvador,  and 
Nicaragua,   even  in  the  face  of  these    continued  discourage- 


CHAP.  II  CENTRAL   AMERICA  495 

ments,  still  continued  loyal  to  the  federal  idea.     They  accord- 
ingly organized  a  third  federation  —  Honduras,  which  had  long 
been  the  centre  of  Federalist  activity,  assuming  the  leadership 
and  dictating  the  policy  of  this  new    union  of   states.     But 
Honduras  did  not  have  far-seeing  men  at  its  head,  and  com- 
mitted the  wretched  blunder  of  trying  to  force  the  other  States 
into  the  federation.     To  this  end  it  made  war  on  Guatemala 
with  the  assistance  of  Salvador  and  Nicaragua.     Such  a  war, 
however,   did   not   have   the  dignity   which   belonged    to  the 
struggles  of  Morazan;  for  it  was  plainly  foredoomed  to  fail- 
ure.    What  tliat  able  and  high-minded  patriot  had  failed  to 
accomplish  in  the  days  of  the  first  Republic,  certainly  could 
not  be  accomplished  now,  when  the  cause  of  federal  unity  had 
so  frequently  suffered  shipwreck.     Hence  the  war  brought  on 
by  Honduras  developed  into  one  of  those  petty  and  factional 
strifes   which   are   so   thoroughly    characteristic   of    Spanish- 
American    politics.^      Salvador   and   Nicaragua   soon   wearied 
of  it,  and  left  Honduras  to  carry  on  the  struggle  alone.     Even 
with  its  allies  Honduras  had  hardly  been  able  to  hold  its  own ; 
without  them  it  was  entirely  overmatched.     Guatemala  came 
out  triumphant,  and  the  triumph  of  Guatemala  meant  the  tri- 
umph of  Oarrera  and  all  that  he  represented.     Firmly  seated 
in  power,   this  bigoted  and  intolerant   man   played  into  the 
hands  of  the  Church  party  and  raised  a  barrier  to  progress  all 
over  Central  America.     In  Guatemala  he  trampled  free  insti- 
tutions under  foot  and  made  himself  dictator.     Always  inter- 
fering in  the  affairs  of  the  other  Central  American  States,  he 
thwarted  a  new  plan  for  a  confederation  in  18G2  ;  and  in  18(>P) 
he  waged  war  on   Salvador,  not  liking   the   liberal   and  pro- 
gressive administration  of  its  President,  Gerado  Barrios.     In 
this  war,  though  at  first  defeated,  he  was  in  the  end  success- 
ful, and  thus  won  for  the  cause  of  absolutism  a  further  tri- 
umph.     His  death  occurred  two  years  later,  on  April  14,  18()5. 
For    some   time   after   this   the   federative    movement   lan- 
guished.    Its   friends   had   been  discouraged  by  its   repeated 

1  Even  Morazan's  high  character  and  lofty  purpose  could  not  wholly 
redeem  the  contlicts  he  engaged  in  from  a  personal  and  partisan  character. 
Stephens  relates  that  his  soldiers,  after  a  victory,  "  marched  into  the  plaza, 
stacked  tiieir  arms,  and  sliouted  'Viva  Morazan!  '  In  the  morning  the  shont 
was  '  Viva  Carrera !  '  iSoue  cried  '  Viva  la  Patria !  '  "  —  "  Incidents  of  Travel," 
II.  85. 


496  SPANISH   AND   PORTUGUESE   AMERICA        book  iv 

failures,  and  they  abandoned  their  efforts  in  its  behalf.  But 
shortly  after  Carrera's  death  there  appeared  in  Guatemala  a 
man  who  was  destined  to  play  a  conspicuous  part  in  Central 
American  politics,  and  who  nearly  succeeded  in  effecting  that 
union  of  the  States  which  had  so  long  been  the  dream  of  the 
Federalist  party.  Justo  Kufino  Barrios  was  born  in  Guate- 
mala on  July  17,  1835,  of  mixed  Spanish  and  Indian  blood. 
Possessing  strong  liberal  sympathies,  he  thoroughly  disap- 
proved of  the  despotic  regime  which  Carrera  had  established ; 
and  in  1867  he  took  part  in  a  revolutionary  movement  which 
was  designed  to  free  Guatemala  from  its  tyrannical  govern- 
ment. At  first  winning  some  small  successes  and  again  suffer- 
ing defeat,  he  gradually  gained  in  power  and  reputation ;  and 
in  1871  he  was  able  to  enter  the  capital  of  Guatemala  and  to 
terminate  the  reign  of  absolutism  and  bigotry  which  had  been 
established  there  by  Carrera  thirty  years  before.  Elevated 
soon  after  this  to  the  presidency,  he  attracted  the  attention 
of  all  Central  America  by  his  energy,  ability,  and  courage. 
Insurrections  against  his  government  broke  out  repeatedly  in 
Guatemala,  and  he  was  sometimes  obliged  to  contend  also  with 
the  neighboring  States  of  Honduras  and  Salvador,  which, 
headed  by  reactionary  rulers,  were  opposed  to  his  liberal  and 
progressive  rule.  But  Barrios  maintained  himself  against  all 
his  enemies,  outlived  the  attempts  of  assassins  upon  his  life, 
and  devoted  himself  to  the  cause  of  reform  and  good  govern- 
ment with  tireless  energy.  He  freed  the  press,  built  railways, 
reorganized  the  telegraph  and  postal  systems,  improved  the 
roads  and  bridges,  and  did  much  for  education  both  in  colleges 
and  schools.  In  his  capital,  Guatemala,  he  took  especial  inter- 
est, and  through  his  efforts  it  became  a  clean,  healthy,  well- 
policed  and  well-administered  city.  He  also  perfected  the 
military  organization  of  the  country,  and  maintained  a  dis- 
ciplined and  efficient  army,  knowing  that  every  Central  Ameri- 
can ruler  must  always  be  ready  for  an  appeal  to  force.  But 
perhaps  the  greatest  service  that  he  rendered  his  country  was 
that  of  ridding  it  of  the  tyrannj^  of  the  Church.  "  Regardless 
of  priestly  malediction  and  protesting  bishops,  he  suppressed 
monasteries  and  nunneries ;  he  banished  dangerous  religious 
orders ;  he  made  a  sweeping  sequestration  of  Church  estates ; 
he  turned  the  right  royal  residences  of  the  clerical  dignitaries 


CHAP.  II  CENTEAL   AMERICA  497 

into  schools,  which  he  liberally  endowed  with  Church  incomes. 
.  .  .  The  great  convent  of  San  Domingo,  almost  a  town  in 
itself,  with  a  splendid  surrounding  estate,  was  converted  into 
a  university."  ^  But  unfortunately  the  man  who  so  greatly 
improved  the  condition  of  Guatemala  was  not  clean-handed 
and  Avas  sometimes  cruel.^  At  the  head  of  a  nominal  republic^, 
he  was  really  as  absolute  a  ruler  as  Carrera  himself,  though  he 
used  his  power  for  good  government,  while  Carrera  was  the 
enemy  of  progress.  Only,  indeed,  by  harsh  measures  and  by 
prompt  and  summary  action  could  he  have  maintained  himself 
in  power. 

Accordingly,  having  confirmed  himself  in  the  ways  and 
usages  of  a  dictator,  liarrios  approached  the  question  of  fed- 
eral unity  in  a  thoroughly  characteristic  manner.  He  wished 
to  see  all  the  Central  American  States  brought  under  one  gov- 
ernment, but  of  that  government  he  himself  would  be  the  head. 
In  other  Avords,  he  proposed  that  Guatemala  should  annex  the 
other  four  so-called  Republics.  But  it  could  not  be  assumed 
that  this  scheme  was  the  offspring  of  a  merely  selfish  ambition. 
Undoubtedly  Barrios  wished  to  extend  all  over  Central  America 
the  enlightened  and  progressive  rule  he  had  given  to  Guate- 
mala; and  he  well  knew  that  the  personal  supremacy  of  a 
single  strong  administrator  could  alone  secure  this  end.  Ob- 
servant of  the  world  around  him,  he  had  seen  how  Diaz  had 
established  his  sway  in  the  neighboring  State  to  the  north  ; 
and  he  was  convinced  that  political  conditions  were  alike  in 
Mexico  and  in  Central  America.  Accordingly,  he  aimed  to 
accomplish  a  similar  work  to  that  of  Diaz  and  to  accomplish 
it  in  a  similar  way.  Not,  however,  that  he  wished  to  bring 
about  the  union  by  military  conquest.  On  the  contrary,  he 
strove  pi'imarily  to  secure  the  Avilling  cooperation  of  the  other 
Republics  and  to  gain  the  desired  end  solely  through  diplomacy 
and  negotiation.  And  in  this  effort  he  seemed  at  first  to  be 
successful.  It  was  in  1884  that  he  gave  his  attention  to  the 
scheme  of  unity,  and  he  found  his  own  ministers  and  President 
Zalvidar  of  Salvador  and  President  Bogran  of  Honduras  appar- 

1  "  Guatemala,"  by  O.  J.  Victor,  in  Harper's  Magazine,  71 :  000. 

2  From  the  cliarge  of  wanton  and  unparalleled  cruelty  which  has  some- 
times been  bronjiht  against  him,  he  must  be  acquitted.  LltteWs  Livlncj  Age, 
170 :  283  ;  the  Nation,  02  :  17G. 

2  k 


498  SPANISH   AND   PORTUGUESE    AMERICA        book  iv 

ently  in  entire  sympathy  witli  his  plan.  Accordingly,  as  every- 
thing seemed  ready  for  the  realization  of  his  project,  he  publicly 
proclaimed  his  intention  of  establishing  unity  on  February  28, 
1885 ;  and  on  March  6  he  showed  in  a  further  proclamation 
how  the  proposed  union  should  be  brought  about. 

The  prospect  of  national  unity  was  greeted  with  approval 
by  the  Federalists  all  over  Central  America,  and  at  first  it 
seemed  as  if  the  movement  would  meet  with  no  serious  oppo- 
sition. Nicaragua  and  Costa  Kica  stood  too  much  in  awe  of 
Barrios  to  object  to  it;  and  Honduras  gave  it  a  hearty  support. 
But  it  soon  appeared  that  President  Zalvidar  of  Salvador  had 
been  playing  a  treacherous  part.  Openly  a  friend  of  the  national 
project,  he  was  at  heart  opposed  to  it;  and  he  had  been  secretly 
negotiating  with  Mexico  to  secure  its  defeat.  Fancying  that 
the  Mexican  Government  was  behind  him,  he  now  ventured 
to  send  an  army  to  attack  Barrios  in  Guatemala.  But  Mexico 
gave  him  no  support ;  his  troops  were  rapidly  overpowered  by 
Barrios ;  and  the  union  seemed  likely  to  be  effected  without 
further  opposition.  But  on  April  2,  at  the  very  moment  of 
success.  Barrios  himself  was  killed  by  the  bullet  of  a  sharp- 
shooter, while  entering  a  hostile  village  at  the  head  of  his 
troops. 

Thus  perished  the  one  man  in  Central  America  who  was  able 
to  unite  its  petty  States  anew  under  one  strong  rule.  He  had 
not  the  elevated  character,  the  personal  integrity,  and  the 
aversion  to  harsh  and  cruel  measures  of  President  Diaz ;  but 
that  he  would  have  governed  Central  America  with  justice, 
ability,  and  statesmanlike  breadth  there  can  be  no  reasonable 
doubt.  But  whether  he  would  have  laid  the  foundations  of 
a  new  nation  is  quite  a  different  question.  Even  in  Mexico 
anarchy  and  revolution  may  be  the  order  of  things  when  the 
strong  and  beneficent  rule  of  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  has 
come  to  an  end ;  though  the  world  confidently  expects  a  better 
result.  And  in  Central  America,  where  jealousies  and  petty 
warfares  have  reigned  for  three  quarters  of  a  century,  and 
where  revolutions  are  still  an  everyday  occurrence,  the  diffi- 
culties in  the  way  of  national  unity  are  even  greater  than  they 
are  in  the  ]\rexican  Republic.  Yet,  even  so,  the  death  of  Barrios 
was  a  public  calamity,  and  was  the  occasion  of  deep  and  genuine 
sorrow  throughout  all  the  Central  American  Republics. 


CHAP.  II  CENTRAL   AMERICA  499 

But  the  end  wliicli  he  failed  to  accomplish  was  imperfectly 
realized  ten  years  after  his  death.  On  June  28,  1895,  the  three 
States  of  Central  America  which  had  always  been  most  loyal 
to  the  federativ^e  idea,  Honduras,  Nicaragua,  and  Salvador,  con- 
stituted themselves  the  Greater  Republic  of  Central  America. 
Guatemala  and  Costa  Rica  held  entirely  aloof  from  the  Con- 
federation for  a  time ;  but  on  June  15,  1897,  they  proposed  to 
join  it,  and  a  treaty  was  agreed  upon  by  all  five  Republics  as  a 
basis  of  union.  But  this  treaty  was  never  ratified,  and  Gua- 
temala and  Costa  Rica,  accordingly,  never  became  actual 
members  of  the  Greater  Republic. 

As  originally  constituted,  the  Confederation  had  but  a 
precarious  existence.  It  did  not  rest  upon  a  Constitution,  and 
the  scheme  of  government  provided  for  it  was  a  very  imperfect 
one.  The  Presidents  of  the  different  States  took  their  turns 
in  serving  as  President  of  the  Greater  Republic,  and  the  only 
legislative  body  was  a  Council,  of  very  limited  powers,  which 
consisted  of  two  delegates  from  each  State.  But  in  1898  the 
Confederation  was  put  upon  a  better  basis.  For  in  the  summer 
of  that  year  delegates  from  its  three  members  met  at  Managua 
in  Nicaragua,  framed  a  Constitution,  and  gave  their  union  the 
name  of  the  United  States  of  Central  America.  The  Consti- 
tution was  not  to  be  submitted  to  popular  vote,  but  a  commis- 
sion was  appointed  to  exercise  the  functions  of  government  for 
the  time  being,  and  to  provide  for  the  election  of  a  President  in 
the  following  December.  It  was  expected  that  the  President 
would  be  inaugurated  in  March,  1899.  But  before  that  time 
arrived,  the  Confederation  collapsed.  It  was  formally  estab- 
lished on  November  1,  1898,  and  for  a  brief  period  all  went 
well.  But  about  the  middle  of  November  one  of  the  candi- 
dates for  the  presidency,  a  Salvadorean  named  Tomaso  Rega- 
lado,  seized  upon  the  machinery  of  government  and  made  the 
fulfilment  of  the  federative  scheme  impossible.  He  did  not 
aim  to  make  himself  the  permanent  head  of  the  Confederation, 
for  it  did  not  accord  with  his  plans  to  keep  the  Confederation 
alive.  Rather  was  his  action  prompted  by  regard  for  the  inter- 
ests of  Salvador,  which  strongly  objected  to  the  financial 
arrangements  authorized  by  the  new  Constitution.  Accord- 
ingly, after  gaining  control  of  affairs,  Senor  Regalado  issued  a 
proclamation  declaring  that  Salvador  was  no  longer  a  member 


500  SPANISH  AND  PORTUGUESE   AMERICA        book  iv 

of  the  Confederation,  but  that  it  woukl  join  tlie  union  of  Cen- 
tral American  Republics  whenever  its  own  interests  made  such 
a  course  seem  advisable. 

Such  is  the  meagre  result  of  three  quarters  of  a  century  of 
endeavor  after  national  unity.  What  will  yet  be  accomplished 
in  that  direction  it  is  useless  to  prophesy ;  but  the  history  of 
Central  America  ever  since  it  was  delivered  from  Spanish  rule 
shows  conclusively  that  the  people  of  the  country  cannot  exer- 
cise self-government  as  that  word  is  properly  understood.  That 
they  have  made  progress  in  education,  industry,  and  commerce 
cannot  be  denied ;  and  assuredly  they  have  the  right  to  estab- 
lish any  kind  of  rule  that  they  find  suited  to  themselves. 
They  are  certainly  better  off  than  they  were  under  Spain's 
harsh  dominion ;  and  even  though  they  do  not  make  law 
respected,  government  stable,  and  property  secure,  who  shall 
say  that  their  political  education  is  making  no  headway  at  all  ? 
But  as  yet  they  do  not  understand  the  meaning  of  free  institu- 
tions or  the  responsibilities  of  citizenship.  Fond  of  color, 
gayety,  and  brightness,  loving  the  gorgeous  processions  and 
ceremonies  of  the  Church  better  than  the  sober  side  of  life, 
averse  to  serious  thinking,  living  in  the  feelings  and  emotions, 
and  delighting  in  fetes  and  in  exciting  sports,  the  Central 
American  does  not  know  how  to  cherish  political  ideals  or  to 
fight  against  political  corruption.  Hence,  in  his  country  it  is 
the  strong  man  rather  than  the  majority  that  rules,  and  the 
character  of  the  government  always  depends  upon  the  charac- 
ter of  the  man  who  has  grasped  the  reins  of  power.  Almost 
invariably  the  Central  American  ruler  is  despotic ;  almost 
invariably  does  he  surround  himself  with  characters  whose 
chief  merit  is  their  willingness  to  do  his  bidding ;  but  some- 
times he  is  not  dishonest,  and  occasionally  he  is  a  man  of  lib- 
eral and  progressive  views.  But  his  power  he  knows  to  be 
insecure,  for  it  does  not  rest  upon  the  suffrages  of  the  people. 
It  is  by  a  revolution  that  he  rises,  and  by  a  revolution  that  he 
may  expect  to  fall.  Therefore,  the  (Jentral  American  Repub- 
lics will  be  Republics  in  name  only  until  long  years  have 
changed  the  temper  of  the  people,  and  many  patriots  like 
Morazan  have  taught  their  countrymen  the  value  of  liberty. 
And,  all  this  being  so,  it  goes  without  saying  that  the  endeavor 
to  establish  national  unity  cannot  well  succeed.     Weak  states 


CHAP.  II  GUATEMALA  601 

cannot  form  a  strong  state ;  the  weakness  of  the  units  is  siu-e 
to  affect  the  whole.  If  the  individual  republics  are  at  the 
mercy  of  revolutions,  the  central  republic  must  be  subject  to 
revolutions  also;  if  each  separate  government  is  a  one-man 
power,  the  one-man  power  must  likewise  control  the  central 
government.  Hence,  an  alliance  or  contract  easily  dissolved  is 
all  that  can  for  some  time  be  expected  from  a  confederation  of 
the  Central  American  Republics. 

The  government  of  each  one  of  these  live  states  being  thus 
shifting  and  unstable,  it  is  hardly  worth  while  to  trace  its  his- 
tory since  the  lirst  attempt  at  union  failed  in  1838.  For  the 
story  would  be  an  unprofitable  record  of  constant  changes  and 
petty  revolutions;  of  intrigue,  greed,  selfishness,  despotism. 
and  cruelty,  attended  with  some  progress,  some  inevitable 
material  growth,  and  on  the  whole  a  fair  measure  of  prosperity. 
The  larger  and  more  important  elements  of  the  story  have 
already  been  given  in  the  account  of  the  endeavor  after  unity  ; 
the  small  and  petty  elements  may  well  be  ignored.  Accord- 
ingly, each  of  the  Republics  will  be  considered  separately  only 
so  far  as  is  necessary  to  describe  the  form  of  government  and 
to  give  such  statistical  records  as  may  indicate  the  industrial 
possibilities  of  each  country.' 

Guatemala 

The  largest  of  the  five  Republics  is  the  one  which  the  pre- 
ceding pages  show  to  have  had,  on  the  whole,  the  greatest 
political  importance,  Guatemala,  its  area  being  63,400  square 
miles,  which  is  about  that  of  all  New  England.  It  is  also  the 
most  populous  of  them  all,  having  1,750,000  inhabitants.  The 
Constitution  gives  the  suffrage  to  all,  and  vests  the  govern- 
ment in  a  President  elected  by  the  people  for  six  years,  and  a 
single  Legislative  Chamlier,  the  members  of  which  are  elected 
for  four  years.  Education  is  free  and  is  supposed  to  be  com- 
pulsory, but  not  more  than  from  one  third  to  one  half  of 
the  children  actually  attend  school.  The  poor  roads  of  the 
country  are  as  yet  a  great  hindrance  to  the  development  of 

iFor  a  discussion  of  the  resources,  climate,  soil,  products,  and  industries 
of  each  Repuhlic  consult  the  United  States  Government's  "Handbook  of  the 
American  Republics"  ;  also  W.  E.  Curtis  on  "  Central  America:  Its  Resources 
and  Commerce,"  in  the  Forum  for  April  and  May,  18'.t8. 


502  SPANISH   AND   PORTUGUESE  AMERICA        book  iv 

the  country's  resources,  as  mule  paths  are  the  ordinary  means 
of  communication,  and  as  yet  but  few  railroads  have  been  con- 
structed. Yet,  owing  to  the  influence  of  Barrios,  Guatemala 
has  introduced  more  modern  improvements  than  any  other 
Central  American  State,  and  since  his  death  the  construction 
of  public  works  has  not  been  entirely  abandoned. 

The  soil  of  the  country  is  exceedingly  rich,  and  is  capable 
of  producing  a  great  variety  of  products.  Cofi^ee,  sugar, 
tobacco,  and  cereals  of  an  admirable  quality  can  be  raised  in 
almost  unlimited  quantities,  while  the  timber  forests  are  very 
valuable,  as  they  are  all  over  Central  America.  Altogether, 
the  resources  of  Guatemala  are  so  great  that  it  probably 
could  support  ten  times  the  population  that  it  now  con- 
tains. But  its  growth  will  not  be  rapid  until  it  has  acquired 
greater  political  stability,  for  of  recent  years  it  has  been  the 
scene  of  much  restlessness  and  agitation.  After  the  death  of 
Justo  Barrios  in  1885,  his  nephew,  Jose  Maria  Reina  Barrios, 
became  the  leading  figure  in  the  State,  and  made  himself 
head  of  the  Government.  But  his  rule  was  a  stern  one,  and 
in  suppressing  rebellion  with  a  merciless  hand  he  made  so 
many  enemies  that  a  price  was  publicly  offered  for  his  death. 
Consequently,  he  lived  in  constant  dread  of  assassins,  and  was 
finally  killed  by  one  on  February  8,  1898.  But  his  death 
caused  little  change  in  the  conduct  of  the  Government. 

Honduras 

Honduras  is  about  two  thirds  as  large  as  Guatemala,  having 
an  area  of  about  43,000  square  miles,  which  is  nearly  the  same 
as  that  of  Virginia,  but  it  has  a  population  of  less  than 
500,000.  It  is,  indeed,  a  very  backward  and  unprogressive 
country,  its  inhabitants  being  peculiarly  listless  and  indolent, 
even  for  Spanish  Americans.  Little  attempt  is  made  to 
develop  the  natural  resources  of  the  country ;  yet  Honduras 
has  a  wonderfully  rich  soil,  considerable  mineral  wealth,  excel- 
lent timber  lands,  navigable  rivers,  and  fine  harbors.  It  is 
nominally  a  Republic,  being  governed  under  a  charter  which 
was  proclaimed  in  1891,  and  which  grants  representative  gov- 
ernment, religious  freedom,  and  free  and  compulsory  educa- 
tion. The  executive  power  is  vested  in  a  President  elected  by 
the  suffrages  of  the  people,  who  is  assisted  by  a  Council  of 


CHAP.  II  SALVADOR  503 

Ministers.  There  is  one  legislative  body,  to  wliich  one  deputy 
is  allowed  for  every  thousand  inhabitants.  This  system  of 
government  is  actually  in  operation,  and  education  is  provided 
as  the  law  directs.  But  the  apathy  of  the  people  makes  the 
free  institutions  of  the  country  peculiarly  unstable.  The  strong 
man  could  at  any  time  easily  overturn  them. 

Salvador 

Quite  a  different  country  is  the  little  Republic  of  Salvador. 
Although  it  contains  but  a  little  over  7000  square  miles  — 
about  the  size  of  New  Jersey  or  Massachusetts  —  it  has  nearly 
a  million  inhabitants,  and  its  people  are  characterized  by 
industry,  energy,  and  thrift.  Only  about  20,000  of  them  are 
white,  and  this  oligarchy  controls  the  Government  and  gives 
to  the  whole  country  its  progressive  character  and  its  com- 
paratively advanced  political  condition.  Salvador  has  indeed 
an  admirable  Constitution,^  proclaimed  first  in  1864  but  modi- 
fied in  1880, 1883,  and  1886,  which  vests  the  executive  authority 
in  a  President  elected  for  four  years  by  the  people,  and  the 
legislative  in  a  National  Assembly  of  Deputies  chosen  for 
every  year  by  universal  suffrage.  Instruction  is  made  com- 
pulsory, and  all  the  rights  which  properly  belong  to  the  citi- 
zens of  a  free  republic  are  guaranteed.  But  the  provisions  of 
the  Constitution  are  summarily  set  aside  by  the  ruling  class, 
which  so  manipulates  the  elections  as  to  keep  the  power  firmly 
in  its  own  hands.  Although  the  Constitution  declares  against 
the  conscription  of  soldiers,  the  Government  does  not  hesi- 
tate to  raise  all  the  troops  it  needs,  and  to  use  them  in  an 
illegal  and  high-handed  manner.  Hence  here,  as  nearly  every- 
where in  Spanish  America,  republican  institutions  exist  rather 
in  theory  than  in  practice.  The  President  is  abnost  invariably 
an  absolute  ruler,  and  comes  into  power  by  a  proclamation 
declaring  his  authority  rather  than  by  process  of  election. 

But  the  country  is  highly  prosperous  and  its  resources  have 
been  well  developed.  Its  mines  contain  rich  stores  of  silver, 
gold,  iron,  copper,  and  quicksilver;  its  soil  gives  an  abundant 
yield  of  coffee,  sugar,  indigo,  tobacco,  and  various  tropical 
products ;  and  its  roads  are  in  better  condition  than  those  of 

1  Consult  the  United  States  Government's  publication  on  Salvador  in  the 
Bureau  of  Anieric;iu  Republics. 


504  SPANISH   AND   PORTUGUESE   AMERICA        book  iv 


the  other  Central  American  countries.  Unfortunately,  however, 
its  coast  does  not  contain  a  single  harbor,  and  it  frequently 
suffers  from  violent  earthquakes. 

Nicaragua 

Though  containing  49,500  square  miles  of  territory  and 
equalling  in  ai-ea  the  State  of  New  York,  Nicaragua  has  a 
population  of  only  half  a  million,  and  is  making  no  gains  in 
material  prosperity.  For  its  people  are  discouraged  by  the 
frequent  political  disturbances  and  are  little  disposed  to  accu- 
mulate what  a  usurping  Government  may  suddenly  snatch  away. 
The  closing  years  of  the  century  have  been  especially  disquiet- 
ing, for  they  have  witnessed  the  attempts  of  a  typical  Spanish- 
American  adventurer  to  make  himself  master  of  the  country. 
General  Santos  Zelaya,  aspiring  to  be  President,  established 
his  authority  by  a  proclamation  setting  aside  the  Constitution 
of  1894,  which  vests  the  executive  power  in  a  President  chosen 
for  four  years  by  the  people  and  the  legislative  in  a  Congress  of 
forty  dejjuties  elected  for  two  years.  Unce  in  power,  President 
Zelaya  found  himself  the  object  of  many  conspiracies,  and 
adopted  such  harsh  and  repressive  measures  as  to  make  himself 
disliked  all  over  the  country.  That  his  career  will  be  cut  short 
by  violence  is  highly  probable,  but  it  is  equally  probable  that 
his  successor  will  resort  to  similar  methods  of  rule  and  will 
show  the  same  disregard  of  the  Constitution.  And  while  such 
political  unrest  prevails,  Nicaragua  will  continue  to  be  unde- 
veloped, though  its  mines,  its  forests,  its  soil,  and  its  fisheries 
contain  inexhaustible  riches. 

Costa,  Rica 

In  this  small  country,  which,  containing  about  39,000  square 
miles,  is  a  little  larger  than  Indiana  and  has  a  population  of 
less  than  300,000,  republican  institutions  seem  to  have  found  a 
congenial  home.  Unlike  her  sister  Republics,  Costa  Rica 
elects  her  rulers  in  the  manner  provided  for  by  the  Constitu- 
tion, and  in  other  respects  shows  herself  to  be  a  quiet  and  law- 
abiding  country.  The  Constitution,  however,  is  not  as  demo- 
cratic as  that  of  most  Spanish-American  States,  as  both  the 
President,  whose  term  of  office  is  four  years,  and  the  Congress, 
whose  members  serve  for  four  years,  one  half  retiring  every 


CHAP.  II  COSTA   IlICA  505 

two  years,  are  chosen  by  an  electoral  assembly  and  not  directly 
by  the  people.  There  are  about  30  deputies  and  between  500 
and  600  electors.  The  President  has  considerable  power,  as 
he  can  appoint  and  remove  at  will  the  four  members  of  his 
Cabinet ;  but  he  cannot  serve  for  two  terms  in  succession.  The 
Constitution  provides  for  free  primary  education,  and  the  chil- 
dren are  obliged  to  attend  school  except  in  the  thinly  settled 
regions.  Costa  Rica  has  also  an  excellent  judicial  system, 
there  being  a  Supreme  Court  of  eleven  justices  elected  by  Con- 
gress for  four  years,  a  minor  court  in  each  province  but  that  of 
San  Jose,  which  has  two,  and  criminal  courts  with  subordinate 
judges  called  alcaldes  throughout  the  country.  In  the  other 
Central  American  Republics  also  a  judicial  system  is  provided 
for  by  the  Constitution  and  has  of  necessity  some  degree  of 
working  efficiency.  But  it  is  needless  to  say  that  where  despots 
govern,  justice  is  often  blind.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  Roman 
Catholicism  is  recognized  as  the  established  religion  of  the 
State  in  Costa  Rica ;  but  entire  freedom  of  worship  is  granted 
to  other  creeds. 

Under  its  excellent  government  the  population  of  the  country 
is  rapidly  increasing,  and  already  Costa  Rica  has  developed  a 
considerable  foreign  trade.  Coffee,  bananas,  skins,  hides,  and 
hard  woods  are  the  chief  articles  of  export ;  but  the  soil  is 
capable  of  producing  almost  everything,  and  these  exports  are 
certain  to  grow  in  variety  as  well  as  in  value,  as  the  country 
becomes  more  thickly  settled.  Not  very  many  miles  of  rail- 
ways have  yet  been  constructed,  but  the  lines  are  Avell  arranged 
for  giving  the  great  productive  regions  an  outlet  upon  the 
Atlantic  and  Pacific  coasts. 

It  may  be  remembered  that  Costa  Rica  was  the  first  State  to 
recognize  the  futility  of  the  federative  experiment  (p.  494)  and 
to  devote  itself  quietly  and  peaceably  to  the  management  of 
its  own  affairs.  Ever  since  that  time  it  has  been  inclined  to 
let  its  neighbors  alone  and  to  expend  its  energies  in  establish- 
ing the  reign  of  justice,  law,  and  prosperity  within  its  own 
borders.  So  well  has  it  succeeded  in  these  efforts,  that  its  career 
may  be  viewed  as  an  example  for  all  Spanish-American  coun- 
tries, and  as  a  promise  that  all  Central  America,  which  is  one 
of  the  richest  and  fairest  regions  of  the  globe,  will  some  day 
be  one  of  the  most  prosperous. 


CHAPTER   III 

SOUTH    AMERICA 

The  opening  years  of  the  nineteenth  century  found  Spain 
in  possession  of  a  great  portion  of  South  America.  Brazil 
belonged  to  Portugal ;  the  British,  Dutch,  and.  Prench  had 
divided  Guiana  between  them ;  and  Patagonia,  though  really  a 
part  of  the  Spanish  viceroyalty  of  Buenos  Ayres,  was  aban- 
doned to  tribes  of  wandering  Indians ;  but  over  all  the  rest  of 
the  South  American  continent  Sj^ain  exercised  her  galling  and 
tyrannical  rule.  For  the  people  of  this  vast  region  fared  no 
better  than  the  inhabitants  of  other  Spanish  Colonies.  They 
were  badly  used  by  the  Spanish  governors,  persecuted  by  the 
Inquisition,  and  continually  forced,  to  sacritice  their  own  inter- 
ests to  those  of  the  mother-country.  Their  commerce  was 
crippled  by  exasperating  restrictions  ;  they  were  forbidden  to 
raise  articles  which  might  compete  with  the  products  of  Spain 
in  the  home  markets.^  But  the  people  of  South  America  did 
not  remain  tamely  submissive  under  this  petty  tyranny.  It 
was  the  Indians  who  first  sought  to  redress  their  wrongs  by 
arms,   for    they  Avere   treated  with   intolerable   cruelty ;    and 

1  It  has  become  one  of  the  accepted  traditions  of  history  that  Spain's  treat- 
ment of  her  Colonies  was  extremely  harsh  and  crnel ;  hut  only  a  detailed 
statement  of  the  atrocities  practised  could  give  an  idea  of  what  the  colonists 
suffered.  The  brief  and  general  account  given  in  the  text  above,  far  from 
being  exaggerated,  falls  greatly  short  of  the  truth.  Throughout  Spanish 
America  the  prisons  were  veritable  infernos.  For  a  full  description  of  Spain's 
infamous  colonial  policy  consult  Captain  Basil  Hall's  "  South  America,"  Vol. 
I.  Ch.  VII. 

Even  as  temperate  and  careful  a  writer  as  Professor  Bernard  Moses  says 
of  this  same  policy:  "The  trade  restrictions  which  were  imposed  upon  the 
Colonies,  instead  of  permitting  them  to  start  with  the  advantages  of  the 
achievements  of  European  civilization,  in  many  cases  drove  them  back  to 
the  barbarism  of  the  aborigines,  and  doomed  them  to  go  over  again  the  pain- 
ful way  up  to  civilization  which  their  ancestors  had  trod  in  Europe."  —  "  The 
Establishment  of  Spanish  Rule  in  America,"  p.  286. 

506 


CHAP.  Ill  SOUTH   AMERICA  507 


under  Tupac  Amaru  II.,  called  the  Last  of  the  Incas,  they 
made  a  formidable  attack  upon  the   Spanish  power  in  1780. 
But  owing  to  a  lack  of  arms  and  discipline  they  were  thor- 
oughly defeated,  and  their  leader  was  put  to  a  cruel  death  in 
the  following  year.^     Soon,  however,  came  the  victorious  end- 
ing of  the  American  Revolution  and  the  bloody  overthrow  of 
monarchy  in  France.     Encouraged  by  these  events,  the  discon- 
tented South  American  peojjles  cherished  the  hope  of  winning 
their  independence,  and  bided  their  time.     Their  opportunity 
seemed  to  come  when  Napoleon  invaded  Spain  in  1808 ;  for  the 
entire  energies  of  the  Spanish  nation  became  absorbed  in  its 
long  and  desperate  struggle  with  the  armies  of  France.    Accord- 
ingly, on  April  19,  1810,  some  months  earlier  than  the  first 
attack  in  Mexico  (p.  479),  a  handful  of  Venezuelan  patriots, 
among  whom  was  Simon  Bolivar,  instigated  an   uprising  at 
Caracas.     The   movement   was   successful,    and   the    rebellion 
became  more  formidable  with  each  new  victory.     Venezuela 
was  soon  freed  temporarily  from  Spanish  rule  and  in  1811  was 
declared  to  be  a  Republic.     Meanwhile,   the  first  sparks  of 
insurrection  had  been  kindling  a  mighty  conflagration,  and  by 
this  time  nearly  all  of  Spain's  South  American  Colonies  were 
in  a  state  of  revolt.     The  provinces  that  are  now  comprised  by 
the  countries  of   Peru,   Chili,   and    Bolivia,   and   the    city  of 
Buenos  Ayres,  all  became  the  scenes  of  uprisings  against  the 
dominion  of  Spain.     Buenos  Ayres  had  in  1776  been  declared 
the  capital  of  a  viceroyalty  comprising  the  provinces  of  Rio 
de   la  Plata,  Paraguay,   Uruguay,  and   Bolivia,  and   it   now 
became  the  centre  of  a  persistent  and  successful  movement  for 
independence.     As  early  as  1810  a  provisional  Government  of 
the  provinces  of  the  Rio  de  la  Plata  was  formed,  and  allegiance 
to   Spain  made  thereby  only   nominal ;    and  on  January  31, 
1813,  a  Congress  was  assembled  at  Buenos  Ayres,  which  thus 
became  the  seat  of  a  national  Government.     This  Government 
Spain  never  succeeded  in  overthrowing;  and  in  1816  the  formal 
separation   from   the   mother-country  was    decreed,   and    the 
Argentine    Republic   came   into   being,   though   not   with    its 
present  boundaries.     From  this  time  on  the  Republic  was  not 
called  upon  to  expel  the  Spanish  armies  from  its  own  territory ; 

1  An  interesting  sketch  of  this  rebelliou  may  be  found  in  Markham's  "  lli.s- 
tory  of  Peru,"  Ch.  VIII. 


508  SPANISH   AND   TORTUGUESE  AMERICA        book  iv 

but  it  rendered  aid  to  the  other  Colonies  that  were  struggling 
for  independence. 

And  this  struggle  was  a  long  and  sanguinary  one,  in  the 
course  of  which  the  cause  of  the  patriots  more  than  once 
seemed  hopeless.  For  at  Buenos  Ayres  alone  was  the  revolu- 
tion at  once  successful.  In  other  places  the  insurrectionary 
movement  was  crushed,  for  a  time  even  Venezuela,  with  Boli- 
var as  its  leader,  being  unable  to  hold  its  own.  For  fresh 
troops  were  sent  into  that  province  in  1812,  and  in  the  same 
year  the  patriots  were  discouraged  by  the  tremendous  earth- 
qiiake  which  shook  Caracas  to  the  ground  and  destroyed  the 
lives  of  more  than  ten  thousand  people.  Viewing  this  con- 
vulsion of  nature  as  sent  by  an  offended  Deity  to  rebuke  their 
rebellious  spirit,  the  superstitious  people  of  Venezuela  lost 
their  interest  in  the  revolution,  and  made  so  feeble  a  stand 
against  the  Spanish  forces  that  Bolivar  was  driven  from  the 
province  in  1812. 

Passing  into  the  adjoining  province  of  New  Granada,  he 
continued  the  struggle  with  varying  fortunes,  in  1814  receiving 
so  disastrous  a  defeat  that  it  seemed  doubtful  whether  he 
could  ever  rally  another  army.  Even  his  courage  almost  failed 
at  this  crisis,  and  in  1815  he  sought  refuge  in  Jamaica.  But 
he  soon  reappeared,  and  rencAved  the  conflict  with  such  vigor 
that  the  Spanish  power,  undermined  by  the  persistency  and 
the  widespread  area  of  the  rebellion,  began  to  give  way. 
Defeated  in  one  province,  Bolivar  passed  into  another,  always 
finding  some  region  in  which  the  fire  of  rebellion  had  not  been 
quenched.  In  the  northern  provinces  the  patriots  suffered 
many  reverses  before  they  won  any  decisive  victories.  But 
Chili  was  finally  freed  from  Spain  by  the  battle  of  Maipo, 
fought  April  5,  1818,  and  on  August  7  of  the  following  year 
Bolivar  freed  New  Granada  by  the  great  victory  of  Boyaca. 
In  Venezuela  the  Spanish  general,  Murillo,  offered  a  very 
stubborn  resistance  to  the  patriot  forces,  but  his  army  was  at 
last  almost  annihilated  in  the  battle  of  Carabobo,  which  took 
place  on  June  24,  1821.  So  complete  was  this  victory  that  it 
enabled  the  people  of  Venezuela  to  set  up  a  Republic  on  the 
ruins  of  the  Spanish  regime. 

Quito  (now  Ecuador)  and  Peru  were  the  only  countries  still 
in  the  possession  of  Spain,  and  Bolivar  determined  to  com- 


CHAP.  Ill  SOUTH   AMERICA  509 

plete  the  work  of  liberation  by  effecting  their  deliverance. 
Marching  first  into  the  province  of  Quito,  he  defeated  the 
Spaniards  in  the  important  battle  of  Pichincha  on  May  24, 
1822,  which  enabled  him  to  enter  the  city  of  Quito  without 
opposition,  and  on  December  9,  1824,  he  brought  the  long 
struggle  practically  to  an  end  by  the  great  victory  won  at 
Ayacucho  in  Peru.  About  a  year  later  the  Spaniards  gave  up 
their  last  stronghold  in  South  America,  though  they  did  not 
formally  recognize  the  independence  of  the  country  till  1845. 

Bolivar  was  undoubtedly  the  central  figure  in  this  long 
revolutionary  contest,  and  he  was  not  inaptly  termed  "  The 
Liberator,"  by  his  countrymen.  Showing  rare  self-denial  in 
his  efforts  to  free  his  country,  he  sacrificed  his  vast  fortune 
in  prosecuting  the  war,  suffered  the  hardships  and  privations 
of  the  commonest  soldier,  faced  overwhelming  odds  unflinch- 
ingly, and  inspired  enthusiasm  and  devotion  by  his  unfailing 
personal  charm.  Yet,  great  as  was  the  service  he  rendered  to 
the  work  of  liberation,  he  might  possibly  have  failed  but  for 
the  assistance  of  three  other  patriots  whose  merits  have  sel- 
dom received  adequate  recognition.  A  brief  account  of  what 
each  of  them  accomplished  is  therefore  appropriate. 

Jose  Antonio  Paez  ^  saved  the  revolutionary  movement  in 
Venezuela  from  utter  defeat  by  his  heroism  and  daring.  Ac- 
customed to  tlie  wild  life  of  the  herdsman,  inured  to  hardship, 
without  an  equal  in  horsemanship  and  in  all  exercises  requir- 
ing bodily  strength  and  skill,  Paez  had  an  unbounded  influ- 
ence over  the  rough  llaneros  of  the  plains.  These  men,  whose 
weapon  was  the  deadly  lance,  he  trained  into  a  marvellously 
efficient  body  of  cavalry,  and  with  them  he  accomplished  feats 
which  make  those  of  mediaeval  knights  seem  tame.^  When 
the  armies  of  the  patriots  were  routed  and  the  war  seemed  at 
an  end,  Paez  continued  the  struggle  with  his  llaneros  and 
made  his  name  a  terror  to  the  enemy  by  his  wild  and  amazing 

1  Not  very  much  has  been  written  about  this  gallant  revolutionary  hero, 
but  a  graphic  picture  of  his  achieveincnts  may  be  found  in  a  work  by  his  son, 
Don  Ramon  Paez,  entitled  "  Wild  Scenes  in  South  America,"  Chs.  XXII.  and 
XXIII. ;  and  Paez  has  himself  recorded  the  story  of  his  life  in  an  autobiog- 
raphy, published  in  New  York  in  18(i7,  and  appreciatively  reviewed  in  the 
Nuti'an,  G:  291. 

■■^  His  most  astonishing  achievement  was  that  of  capturing  some  Spanish 
gunboats  in  the  river  with  a  small  band  of  men  who  swam  with  their  horses 
into  the  stream,  climbed  into  the  boats,  and  overpowered  their  crews. 


510  SPANISH   AND    PORTUGUESE    AMERICA        book  iv 

exploits.  Notliing  seemed  too  hazardous  for  him  to  attempt, 
and  some  of  the  more  important  victories  were  acliieved  by 
his  reckless  bravery  and  ingenious  stratagems.  In  the  great 
and  decisive  battle  of  Carabobo  it  was  a  charge  by  Paez  and 
his  horsemen  that  carried  the  day.  But,  modest  as  he  was 
brave,  Paez,  even  after  his  most  astonishing  successes,  always 
stood  ready  to  acknowledge  Bolivar's  superiority.  By  no  dis- 
play of  jealousy  or  petty -mindedness  did  he  ever  injure  or 
imperil  the  patriot  cause. 

Services  of  quite  a  different  character  did  Antonio  Jose  de 
Sucre  render  to  the  revolutionary  movement.  Educated  as  a 
military  engineer,  General  Sucre  showed  such  rare  organizing 
power  that  Bolivar  termed  him  "  the  soul  of  the  army  "  and 
his  campaigns  were  conducted  with  ability  and  success.  On 
the  battle-field  he  was  of  great  service  to  Bolivar,  who  was  not 
always  cool  and  clear-headed  during  an  engagement.'  The 
decisive  battles  of  Pichincha  and  Ayacucho,  as  well  as  some 
that  are  less  famous,  were  won  by  Sucre's  generalship  and 
courage.  Unfortunately,  his  political  career  was  cut  short 
when  he  was  only  thirty-seven  years  old,  as  his  political  ene- 
mies had  him' shot  from  an  ambush  in  1830. 

Less  famous  even  than  Paez  is  Jose  de  San  Martin,  though 
his  achievements  rivalled  even  those  of  Bolivar  himself.  Born 
at  Yapeyu,  in  the  viceroyalty  of  Buenos  Ayres,  in  1778,  he 
was  taken  to  Sj)ain  at  the  age  of  eight  and  Avas  there  educated 
as  a  soldier.  After  serving  for  nearly  twenty  years  in  the 
Spanish  army,  he  returned  to  Buenos  Ayres  in  1810  to  engage 
in  the  war  for  independence.  Soon  gaining  distinction  by  his 
military  ability  and  receiving  an  important  command,  he  yet 
retired  from  the  army  in  1814,  for  he  had  conceived  a  large 
project  which  could  only  be  executed  after  long  and  careful 
preparations.  His  plan  was  nothing  less  than  to  march  an 
army  across  the  Andes  and  break  the  Spanish  power  on  the 
Pacific  coast.  Impracticable  as  this  scheme  seemed  to  be,  it 
was  yet  carried  out  in  1817.  San  Martin  organized  a  force  that 
was  termed  the  "army  of  the  Andes,"  succeeded,  by  extraor- 

1  Bolivar  has  sometimes  been  pronounced  destitute  of  military  ability ;  but 
San  Martin  thought  highly  of  his  generalship,  and  Sucre  came  near  losing 
the  battle  of  Ayacucho  through  disregarding  Bolivar's  warning  against  sca- 
teriug  his  forces.     Filling's  "  Emancipation  of  South  America,"  pp.  407,  4.".-i. 


CHAP,  in  SOUTH  AMERICA  511 

dinary  exertions,  in  leading  it  across  the  Andes  into  Cliili, 
and  won  a  signal  victory  over  the  Spaniards  at  Chacabiico  on 
February  12.  The  still  more  decisive  battle  of  Maipo,  fought 
on  April  5  of  the  following  year,  delivered  all  Chili  into  his 
hands  and  left  him  free  to  attempt  the  conquest  of  Peru. 
Landing  in  that  province  in  September  through  the  assistance 
of  Admiral  Cochrane's  fleet,  he  carried  everything  before  him ; 
and  on  July  12,  1821,  he  was  able  to  make  a  triumphal  entry 
into  Lima.  By  these  successes  he  had  made  himself  as  con- 
spicuous in  the  southern  theatre  of  the  war  as  Bolivar  had 
been  in  the  northern  provinces,  and  he  expected  to  share 
equally  with  that  eminent  patriot  the  glory  of  bringing  the 
struggle  for  liberty  to  a  speedy  and  successful  conclusion. 
But  in  this  hope  he  was  bitterly  disappointed.  Meeting  Boli- 
var for  the  first  time  at  Guayaquil  on  July  25,  1822,  San 
Martin  found  that  the  Liberator  would  brook  no  rival.  Ac- 
cordingly, unwilling  to  create  dissension  and  antagonisms,  he 
withdrew  from  the  scene  of  action,  and,  soon  resigning  his 
command,  set  out  for  Europe.  Unquestionably  the  war  was 
prolonged  because  Bolivar's  vanity  prevented  him  from  secur- 
ing this  gifted  patriot's  cooperation. 

But  it  was  not  to  her  own  sons  only  that  South  America 
owed  her  independence.  As  the  Greeks  in  their  nearly  con- 
temporary struggle  for  liberty  were  greatly  helped  by  Lord 
Byron  and  other  Hellenists,  so  did  the  people  of  South  Amer- 
ica receive  valuable  aid  from  Lord  Cochrane  and  from  a  valiant 
band  of  British  volunteers.  Thomas  Cochrane,  tenth  Earl  of 
Dundonald,  was  born  on  December  14,  1775.  Although  he  was 
an  able  and  gallant  seaman  and  distinguished  himself  in  Great 
Britain's  service,  his  impulsive  and  uncompromising  character 
finally  caused  him  to  be  unjustly  sentenced  to  fine  and  impris- 
onment, and  to  be  deprived  of  his  command  in  the  British  navy. 
Thus  becoming  a  free  lance,  but  always  preserving  a  high  sense 
of  honor  and  never  lending  himself  to  an  ignoble  cause,  he  now 
listened  to  overtures  from  the  newly  established  government  of 
Chili  and  undertook  to  command  and  organize  its  navy.  Arriv- 
ing at  Valparaiso  on  November  29,  1818,  he  put  life  and  spirit 
into  the  struggling  patriots  by  his  boundless  energy.  It  was 
through  Lord  Cochrane's  successes  and  vigorous  exertions  that 
San  Martin  was  able  to  invade  Peru ;  and  for  four  years  he  did 


512  SPANISH   AND   PORTUGUESE   AMERICA         book  iv 

sterling  service  to  the  patriot  cause.  But  he  never  got  on  well 
with  San  Martin/  and  he  finally  threw  up  his  commission  in 
disgust,  being  satisfied  that  he  could  never  obtain  due  recogni- 
tion and  support  from  a  government  that  was  already  torn  with 
political  dissension  and  rendered  inefficient  by  ministerial  cor- 
ruption. More  fortunate  in  winning  merited  praise  were  the 
British  and  Irish  volunteers,  who  fought  side  by  side  with  the 
patriots  on  the  fields  of  Venezuela  and  showed  heroic  valor  in 
the  bloody  battle  of  Carabobo.  Two  thirds  of  their  number 
were  killed  or  wounded  in  that  engagement,  and  when  the  sur- 
vivors passed  before  Bolivar,  he  greeted  them  with  the  generous 
words,  "  Saviours  of  my  country  !  "  ^ 

The  war  for  independence  having  been  brought  to  a  suc- 
cessful termination,  the  countries  thus  set  free  from  Spanish 
rule  had  to  choose  and  establish  their  forms  of  government. 
As  the  war  had  been  a  war  of  liberation,  to  some  extent 
inspired  by  the  example  of  the  United  States,  it  was  natural 
that  republican  principles  should  now  be  held  throughout 
Spanish  America  and  that  the  people  should  everywhere 
expect  to  rule.  Even  during  the  war  these  tendencies  were 
manifest,  and  as  fast  as  the  Spanish  viceroys  were  driven 
out  of  various  provinces.  Congresses  were  convened  to  pro- 
vide for  the  conduct  of  affairs.  But  throughout  the  northern 
provinces  the  success  of  the  patriots  was  for  some  years  too 
transitory  and  the  fortunes  of  war  too  shifting  to  allow  any 
organized  government  a  sure  and  permanent  foundation ;  and 
the  exigencies  of  the  time  seemed  to  render  a  dictatorial  power 
inevitable.  Accordingly,  Bolivar  was  intrusted  with  supreme 
authority,  and  as  the  revolution  gained  new  victories,  the  area 
of  his  rule  increased.  First  of  all  Venezuela  gave  him  entire 
control  of  civil  and  military  affairs  when  he  entered  Caracas  at 
the  head  of  a  liberating  army  in  181.3 ;  and  in  the  following 
year  New  Granada,  which  had  declared  itself  to  be  a  Republic, 
appointed  him  commander-in-chief  of  its  forces.     But  in  1819 

1  Much  sharp  and  bitter  language  passed  between  Lord  Cochrane  and  San 
Martin.  Probably  the  two  were  incapable  of  understanding  each  other.  The 
"Dictionary  of  National  Biography"  (XI.  172)  implies  that  San  Martin 
deserved  Lord  Cochrane's  reproaches :  but  the  account  of  San  Martin  given 
in  Hall's  "  South  America,"  Vol.  II.  Ch.  X.,  makes  the  correctness  of  this  view 
seem  at  least  very  doubtful. 

2Eastwick's  "  Venezuela,"  p.  217. 


CHAP.  Ill  SOUTH  AMERICA  513 


he  succeeded  in  uniting  these  two  countries  into  a  single  State, 
called  the  Republic  of  Colombia,  of  which  he  was  chosen 
President.  Three  years  later  occurred  his  victorious  campaign 
in  the  province  of  Quito,  which  now  entered  the  Colombian 
Republic  under  the  name  of  Ecuador,^  and  increased  Bolivar's 
authority  and  influence.  Still  greater  prestige  came  to  him 
after  his  armies  liberated  Peru  in  1824,  for  the  Congress  of 
Lima  made  him  dictator  with  absolute  powers.  And  finally, 
in  1825,  Upper  Peru,  which  had  been  under  the  government 
established  recently  at  Buenos  Ayres  (p.  507),  as  it  belonged 
once  to  the  viceroyalty  of  Buenos  Ayres,  formed  itself  into  a 
separate  State  under  the  name  of  Bolivia,  made  the  triumphant 
general  perpetual  dictator,  and  intrusted  him  with  the  task  of 
preparing  it  a  Constitution. 

Such  a  rapid  advancement  in  power  and  authority  Avas 
enough  to  inspire  any  man  with  far-reaching  ambition ;  and 
Bolivar,  though  sometimes  called  the  "Washington  of  South 
America,"  did  not  possess  Washington's  well-balanced  mind 
and  perfect  self-control.  The  powers  which  had  been  given 
him  for  the  purposes  of  warfare  he  wished  to  keep  perpetually; 
and  it  was  just  when  the  most  splendid  future  seemed  before 
him  that  his  influence  began  to  decline.  For  with  the  dawn 
of  peace  the  countries  he  had  freed  began  to  manifest  strong 
republican  aspirations.  Bolivar's  arrogant  and  dictatorial 
ways  gave  offence  to  the  partisans  of  popular  sovereignty, 
and  a  fierce  factional  warfare  arose  between  the  Liberals,  who 
believed  that  each  State  should  pursne  its  own  separate  career 
and  devote  its  energies  to  interual  reforms,  and  the  Federal- 
ists, who  were  ardently  attached  to  Bolivar  and  were  deter- 
mined to  carry  through  their  scheme  of  federation  at  any  cost. 
Hence,  the  era  of  peace  soon  degenerated  into  an  era  of  dis- 
sension. In  all  the  States  which  had  been  freed  by  Bolivar's 
exertions  and  had  come  under  his  ascendency,  violent  conten- 
tions arose  and  stood  in  the  way  of  peaceable  and  steady  prog- 
ress. Thus  here,  as  in  Central  America,  the  incapacity  of 
the  Spanish  American  for  self-government  began  to  be  strik- 
ingly manifest. 

1  This  iiajiie  was  derived  from  the  southernmost  of  the  three  departments 
into  whicli  the  old  Spanish  province  of  Quito  was  divided.     This  department 
was  called  Ecuador  (Equator)  because  the  equator  passed  through  it. 
2l 


514  SPANISH   AND   PORTUGUESE   AMERICA         book  iv 

That  Bolivar's  actions  at  this  period  were  clue  to  a  purely 
selfish  ambition  cannot  be  justly  concluded.  No  doubt  he 
wished  to  wield  the  vast  powers  to  which  he  aspired  for 
the  prosperity  and  political  advancement  of  the  people.  But 
his  methods  were  unfortunate,  and  equally  so  were  those  of 
some  of  his  most  distinguished  compatriots.  On  May  25, 
1826,  he  presented  to  the  Congress  of  Bolivia  his  draft  of  a 
Constitution,  and  at  the  same  time  recommended  that  form  of 
government  which  he  deemed  most  siiitable  for  the  newly 
established  Republics.  As  the  most  striking  feature  in  his 
plan  was  that  the  President  of  each  Republic  should  be 
appointed  for  life,  the  friends  of  constitutional  government 
took  alarm.  Even  in  Chili  and  in  Buenos  Ayres  the  Repub- 
licans were  filled  with  apprehension,  while  in  Peru  they 
accused  Bolivar  of  conspiring  to  subvert  free  institutions  and 
to  bring  all  the  States  of  Spanish  America  under  his  own 
absolute  rule.^ 

And  in  truth  this  was  exactly  what  Bolivar  wanted  and 
endeavored  to  accomplish.  But  his  efforts  were  unsuccessful. 
Bolivar  was  at  this  time  President  of  the  Republic  of  Colombia, 
and  Santander,  an  able  and  upright  man,  was  its  Vice-Presi- 
dent ;  but  Bolivar  left  the  practical  management  of  affairs  in 
Santander's  hands,  while  he  himself  pushed  forward  his  dic- 
tatorial schemes  in  Bolivia.  But  rebellion  soon  called  him 
back  to  the  seat  of  government.  Venezuela  became  disaffected 
in  1826,  and  Ecuador  in  the  following  year.  By  using  the 
powers  which  the  Constitution  gave  him  and  by  establishing 
military  rule  in  these  States,  Bolivar  for  the  time  being  kept 
them  under  his  control.  But  his  power  was  waning  fast.  In 
February,  1827,  he  resigned  his  official  position,  and,  although 
he  was  asked  by  the  Senate  to  withdraw  his  resignation,  it 
was  apparent  that  he  was  losing  his  adherents,  while  San- 
tander, whose  loyalty  to  the  Constitution  had  commanded 
respect,  was  steadily  gaining  friends.  But,  instead  of  profit- 
ing by  this  lesson  and  abandoning  his  despotic  ways,  Bolivar 
became  more  arbitrary  than  ever.  On  March  21,  1828,  he 
issued   a   decree,  convening  a  national   Congress  at   Orcana; 

iln  the  "Memoirs  of  Simon  Bolivar."  by  General  H.  L.  V.  Ducoudray 
Holstein  (1829),  is  a  memoir  by  the  Marquis  of  Torre-Tagle,  late  President 
of  Peru,  which  shows  how  high-handed  were  Bolivar's  actions  there. 


CHAP.  Ill  SOUTH   AMERICA  515 


and  when  it  assembled,  he  quartered  himself  near  it  with  an 
army  of  three  thousand  men,  with  a  view  to  controlling  its 
proceedings.  True,  he  did  not  play  the  part  of  Cromwell  and 
send  his  soldiers  on  the  floor  of  the  assembly  hall,  but  he 
directed  his  own  followers  to  leave  the  Convention  and  thereby 
deprived  it  of  a  quorum.  So  the  Convention  could  accomplish 
nothing,  and  his  own  friends,  to  whom  he  issued  earnest 
appeals,  now  became  masters  of  the  situation.  Summoning 
popular  assemblies  at  Bogota,  Caracas,  and  Cartagena,  they 
granted  him  the  powers  of  a  dictator.  Thus  fortified,  he 
issued  a  decree  in  August,  1828,  declaring  himself  absolute 
ruler  of  Colombia. 

But  these  high-handed  measures  could  not  long  delay  his 
downfall.  The  States  became  more  and  more  disaffected,  and 
not  even  by  military  force  was  he  long  able  to  hold  them  in  sub- 
jection. Venezuela  withdrew  from  the  Confederation  in  1829, 
and  in  the  following  year  the  Liberals  in  Ecuador  wrested 
the  government  from  the  adherents  of  Bolivar  and  made 
Ecuador  an  independent  Republic.  These  secessions  broke 
Bolivar's  power,  and  it  soon  became  apparent  that  even  over 
the  remaining  portion  of  the  Colombian  Republic  he  could  no 
longer  retain  his  sway.  The  Convention  that  met  at  Bogota, 
the  capital,  in  1830,  accepted  his  resignation  from  the  presi- 
dency, greatly  to  his  mortification,  and  there  was  nothiug 
left  for  him  but  to  retire  from  public  life.  Disappointed  and 
broken  in  health,  he  spent  the  few  months  that  remained  to 
him  in  bitter  reflections,'  and  only  a  few  days  before  his  death 
he  dictated  a  farewell  address  to  the  nation  in  which  he  taxed 

1  Bolivar's  feelings  at  this  period  are  shown  by  the  following  extracts  from 
a  letter  which  he  wrote  to  General  Flores  of  Ecuador  only  about  a  month 
before  his  death.  They  were  first  published  in  English  by  Hassaurek  in  his 
"  Four  Years  among  Spanish  Americans,"  Ch.  XII. 

"  I  have  been  in  power  for  nearly  twenty  years,  from  which  I  have  gathered 
only  a  few  definite  results:  — 

1.  America  is  for  us  ungovernable. 

2.  He  wlio  derlicates  his  services  to  a  revolution  ploughs  the  sea. 

3.  The  only  thing  that  can  be  done  in  America  is  to  emigrate. 

4.  This  country  will  inevitably  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  unbridled  rabble, 
and  little  by  little  become  a  prey  to  petty  tyrants  of  all  colors  and  races. 

.'").  Devoured  as  we  shall  be  by  all  possible  crimes,  and  ruined  l)y  our  fero- 
ciousness, the  Euro)ieaiis  will  not  deem  it  worth  wliile  to  conquer  us. 

6.  If  it  were  possil)le  for  any  part  of  the  world  to  return  to  a  state  of  primi- 
tive chaos,  that  would  be  the  last  stage  of  South  America." 


516  SPANISH   AND   PORTUGUESE   AMERICA         book  iv 

his  countrymen  with  ingratitude  and  injustice.  He  died  on 
December  17,  1830,  having  lived  long  enough  to  see  the  States 
he  had  freed  fail  utterly  in  their  attempt  at  federative  union 
and  enter  the  troublous  pathway  of  factional  warfare.  Since 
his  death  Venezuela,  Colombia,  Ecuador,  Peru,  and  Bolivia  have 
continued  to  be  separate  and  independent  States. 

Equally  futile  were  the  efforts  to  weld  the  remaining  Spanish 
countries  of  South  America  into  a  permanent  federation.  The 
viceroyalty  of  Buenos  Ayres  was  a  very  extensive  province, 
comprising  the  territory  now  occupied  by  Uruguay,  Paraguay, 
Bolivia,  and  the  Argentine  Republic.  Under  Spanish  rule  the 
viceroyalty  was  divided  into  six  provinces,  and  these  six  prov- 
inces made  the  vmits  out  of  which  the  new  State  was  composed. 
The  first  attempt  at  union  was  utterly  unsuccessful,  as  the 
government  was  very  imperfectly  organized  and  the  people  of 
the  country  barely  knew  what  system  of  rule  they  desired.  So 
far  were  they  from  accepting  true  republican  principles  that 
they  sent  delegates  to  Europe  in  1814  to  find  them  a  prince  in 
England,  France,  or  some  other  monarchical  country.  But  as 
this  project  fell  through,  and  as  the  government  seemed  to  have 
no  power  to  preserve  order  outside  of  Buenos  Ayres  itself,  a 
Congress  was  assembled  at  Tucuman  in  1816  and  a  new  Con- 
federation, called  the  "  United  Provinces  of  Rio  de  la  Plata," 
was  established.  Like  all  Spanish-American  people  at  this 
time,  the  members  of  the  Congress  looked  upon  the  United 
States  as  having  successfully  solved  all  the  problems  of  govern- 
ment, and  they  adopted  some  of  the  fundamental  features  of 
the  United  States  Constitution.  For  they  provided  that  the 
new  Confederation  should  be  governed  by  a  president  and  by  a 
legislature  consisting  of  two  houses.  But  that  the  forms  of 
a  republic  are  worth  little  without  a  free  and  intelligent 
exercise  of  the  right  of  suffrage,  they  had  yet  to  learn. 

Hence  this  new  experiment  in  nation-making  soon  ended  in 
failure.  The  new  Constitution,  from  which  so  much  was 
expected,  was  not  even  adopted  by  all  of  the  provinces ;  for  an 
antagonism  was  speedily  developed  between  the  city  of  Buenos 
Ayres  and  the  men  of  influence  in  the  rural  districts.  Accus- 
tomed to  lead  the  people  about  them,  these  men  could  not 
brook  the  assumptions  of  the  capital  city,  which  despised  the 
raw  civilization  of  the  pampas,  being  quite  unconscious  of  the 


CHAP.  Ill  SOUTH   AMERICA  517 


thinness  and  poverty  of  its  own.  There  being  this  lack  of  sjm- 
pathy  and  cooperation  between  the  different  parts  of  the  United 
Provinces  and  their  centre,  the  process  of  disintegration  soon 
began.  Bolivia  asserted  its  independence  in  1825  (p.  513). 
Paraguay,  as  early  as  1814,  passed  under  the  despotic  rule  of 
Jose  Gaspar  Kodriguez  Francia,  who  exercised  such  absolute 
authority  that  the  province  never  really  came  under  the  control 
of  the  Buenos  Ayres  Government.  In  Uruguay,  Jose  Artigas, 
a  giiacho  who  had  served  with  success  in  the  war  for  indepen- 
dence, attempted  the  role  of  dictator  which  Prancia  had  played 
so  successfully  in  Paraguay,  and  in  1814  he  made  himself 
master  of  affairs.  After  ruling  despotically  for  a  few  years 
and  stirring  up  much  strife,  he  was  driven  out  of  the  country 
in  1820,  and  Uruguay  was  annexed  by  Brazil  as  the  Cisplatine 
State.  But  its  people  were  little  inclined  to  submit  to  this 
arrangement,  and,  encouraged  to  revolt  by  Buenos  Ayres,  they 
declared  themselves  independent  on  August  25,  1825.  This 
action  led  to  a  war  between  Buenos  Ayres  and  Brazil  for  the 
possession  of  Uruguay,  which  lasted  several  years.  But,  partly 
through  the  intervention  of  the  British  Government,  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  country  was  recognized  on  October  4,  1828. 

Thus  the  tendencies  to  disintegration,  to  petty  despotisms, 
and  to  ceaseless  political  turmoil  were  as  strong  in  the  United 
Provinces  of  Rio  de  la  Plata  as  they  were  in  the  Colombian 
Republic.  Everywhere  throughout  the  Confederation  there 
was  factional  strife,  which  ended  in  the  elevation  of  some 
soldier  of  fortune  to  the  control  of  his  own  province.  Under 
these  conditions  the  cause  of  federal  unity  was  hopelessly  lost, 
and  the  only  question  was  how  far  the  process  of  disintegra- 
tion would  extend.  Would  each  one  of  the  six  provinces  that 
once  made  up  the  viceroy alty  of  Buenos  Ayres  become  an 
independent  State,  or  could  any  of  them  be  held  together  and 
be  made  into  one  Republic  of  imposing  power  and  dimensions  ? 
If  such  a  unifying  movement  could  be  accomplished,  Buenos 
Ayres  itself  must  be  its  centre,  for  no  other  city  possessed  the 
necessary  energy  and  prestige.  And  even  at  Buenos  Ayres 
there  was  confusion  for  a  while ;  for  in  1820  Jose  Rondeau, 
the  last  director  elected  under  the  Constitution  of  1816,  was 
overthrown,  and  at  first  it  seemed  doubtful  if  any  one  could 
establish   order.     But   a   few   months   later   General   MaTuiel 


518  SPANISH   AND  PORTUGUESE   AMERICA         book  iv 

Domingo  Rodriguez  appointed  Bernardino  Rivadavia  Secre- 
tary of  tlie  Interior  and  Dr.  Manuel  Garcia  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury ;  and,  with  the  aid  of  these  two  able  aud  progressive 
men,  he  effected  a  number  of  reforms.  Liberty  of  the  press 
was  decreed,  protection  was  extended  to  savings-banks  and 
other  financial  institutions,  education  was  encouraged,  and  the 
Church  was  declared  separate  from  the  State.  Thus  Buenos 
Ayres  made  good  its  right  to  lead  and  to  save  the  surrounding 
provinces  from  discord  and  anarchy.  The  States  which  had 
not  declared  their  independence  continued  to  recognize  Buenos 
Ayres  as  their  capital,  aud  on  January  23,  1825,  they  received 
from  the  Buenos  Ayres  Government  a  national  Constitution. 
Thus  the  process  of  disintegration  was  to  some  extent  stayed, 
and  the  Argentine  Republic,  as  now  constituted,  had  its  first 
beginnings.  Through  Canning's  influence  the  British  Govern- 
ment recognized  the  independence  of  the  country  in  a  commer- 
cial treaty  which  was  signed  February  3,  only  a  few  days  after 
the  Constitution  was  decreed.  Fortunate  in  these  negotiations 
with  a  great  Eixropean  power,  the  State  was  equally  fortunate 
in  its  first  President ;  Rivadavia,  the  head  of  the  Unitarians, 
being  chosen  to  that  oflice  in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  the  Fed- 
erals, who  were  opposed  to  national  unity  and  to  a  strong 
central  government. 

Thus  by  the  year  1830  the  question  of  federation  was  settled 
all  over  South  America.  Brazil  had  become  an  Empire  under 
a  branch  of  the  Portuguese  monarchical  house  (p.  117).  Chili, 
owing  to  its  isolated  position,  never  joined  any  union  of  the 
States  after  it  established  its  independence  in  1818.  The  old 
viceroyalty  of  Buenos  Ayres  had  been  broken  up  into  the 
separate  States  of  Bolivia,  Paraguay,  Uruguay,  and  the  Argen- 
tine Confederation.  Bolivar  had  failed  to  make  a  Republic 
out  of  the  Colombian  States  ;  and  if  these  smaller  federations 
could  not  hold  together,  still  less  could  the  countries  of  South 
America  follow  the  example  of  the  American  Union  and, 
through  the  binding  power  of  a  Constitution,  develop  into  a 
great  nation.  Many  obstacles  were  in  the  way  of  permanent 
union.  The  area  of  the  States  was  vast,  and  they  were  sparsely 
settled ;  they  were  severed  by  wide  rivers  and  lofty  mountain 
chains  ;  they  had  no  well-developed  system  of  roads  to  make 
intercourse  easy.     But  all  these  difficulties  might  have  been 


CHAP,  in  THE  ARGP:NTINE   REPUBLIC  519 

overcome  if  the  political  conditions  had  been  more  favorable. 
It  was  the  ignorance,  the  instability,  the  superstition,  and  the 
lack  of  political  experience  that  made  all  the  larger  federative 
schemes  fall  through.  In  South  America,  as  well  as  in  Central 
America  and  Mexico^  the  Spanish  American  has  shown  himself 
unable  to  understand  the  principles  of  self-government.  Hence, 
even  the  story  of  the  separate  States  is  an  unattractive  and 
discouraging  one.  Some  few  of  them  have  shown  a  capacity 
for  progress,  orderly  government,  and  all  the  institutions  that 
belong  to  advanced  civilization.  But  these  States  are  the  excep- 
tions. In  most  of  them  revolution  has  succeeded  revolution, 
anarchy  alternates  with  despotism,  and  the  people,  though  they 
cherish  republican  ideals,  cannot  found  a  true  Republic. 

Tlie  Argentine  Republic 

The  Confederation  of  the  United  Provinces  of  Rio  de  la 
Plata,  established  in  1816,  had  from  the  beginning  an  arduous 
and  struggling  existence  (p.  516).  Rivadavia  ruled  the  Con- 
federation with  justice  and  moderation,  but  he  was  followed 
in  1829  by  Rosas,  who  obtained  dictatorial  powers  and  main- 
tained his  ascendency  for  more  than  twenty  years  by  tyranny 
and  bloodshed.  He  was  driven  from  the  country  in  1852,  and 
in  the  following  year  a  new  Constitution  was  proclaimed,  the 
country  now  taking  the  name  of  the  Argentine  Republic.  But 
the  new  Confederation  found  almost  as  many  difficulties  to 
contend  with  as  the  old.  The  province  of  Buenos  Ayres  de- 
clared itself  independent  in  the  very  year  that  the  Constitution 
was  adopted,  and  did  not  rejoin  the  Confederation  until  1859. 
Even  after  this  was  accomplished,  the  country  did  not  hud 
peace  and  prosperity.  In  1865  the  Republic  was  forced  into 
a  serious  war  with  Paraguay,  which  lasted  till  1870.  Only 
four  years  later  occurred  a  civil  uprising  under  Brigadier-Gen- 
eral Mitre,  who  had  been  a  candidate  for  the  presidency  and 
who  asserted  that  his  successful  rival.  President  Avellaneda, 
had  carried  the  election  by  fraudulent  means.  The  revolution 
was  put  down  in  sixty-six  days  and  was  followed  by  a  period 
of  comparative  tranquillity,  during  which  the  country  made 
considerable  progress. 

But  an  insurrection  which  broke  out  in  1890  brought  this 
era  of  progress  temporarily  to  an  end,  as  it  proved  to  be  of  a 


520  SPANISH   AND   PORTUGUESE   AMERICA         book  iv 

formidable  character.  It  was  caused  by  the  extravagance  and 
the  arbitrary  conduct  of  President  Juarez  Celman.  Though 
he  brought  the  country  into  great  financial  difficulties  and 
showed  himself  an  incapable  executive,  President  Celman  re- 
fused to  resign  his  office,  and  severe  fighting  took  place  between 
his  supporters  and  the  insurgents.  He  was  finally  forced  to 
retire  from  office ;  but  hardly  had  good  order  been  restored 
before  the  country  was  visited  by  a  disastrous  panic.  It  was 
due  in  part  to  the  corrupt  practices  and  reckless  expenditures 
of  the  Celman  Government,  and  in  part  to  over-rapid  indus- 
trial and  commercial  expansion.  This  unfortunate  financial 
condition  was  aggravated  by  political  restlessness,  and  for 
some  years  the  country  suffered  from  frequent  rebellions  and 
from  a  stringency  in  the  money  market  which  seriously  affected 
its  credit  with  foreign  countries.  But  after  a  time  the  Gov- 
ernment established  its  authority,  and  prosperity  began  to 
return.  The  country,  which  has  an  area  nearly  one  third  as 
large  as  that  of  the  United  States,  including  Alaska,  is  one 
of  the  richest  agricultural  and  grazing  regions  in  the  world, 
and  with  the  growth  of  industry  and  commerce  there  is  devel- 
oping a  strong  desire  for  settled  government  and  for  all  those 
conditions  which  make  progress  possible.  For  many  years 
the  Republic  has  attracted  large  numbers  of  immigrants,  the 
Italians  in  particular  finding  it  a  desirable  field  for  new  enter- 
prises. Education  is  carefully  fostered  and  encouraged,  for 
not  only  are  children  from  six  to  fourteen  years  of  age  required 
to  attend  school,  but  a  number  of  secondary  schools  and  sev- 
eral normal  schools  are  maintained  by  the  general  Government. 
There  are  also  colleges  and  two  universities. 

The  Constitution  of  the  Republic  is  liberal,  and  is  modelled 
very  closely  after  that  of  the  United  States.  The  President, 
who  serves  six  years  and  who  cannot  be  reelected,  is  chosen 
indirectly  by  a  body  of  electors.  He  must  belong  to  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church.  There  are  two  parliamentary  Houses,  as 
there  are,  theoretically  at  least,  in  every  South  American 
State.  The  senators  are  elected  for  nine  years,  each  state  of 
the  Republic  choosing  two  through  its  Legislature,  and  two 
being  chosen  from  the  capital  by  a  special  body  of  electors. 
Senators  must  have  an  income  of  two  thousand  dollars,  though 
they  and  the  members  of  the  Chambers  of  Deputies  are  paid 


CHAP.  Ill  BOLIVIA  521 

for  their  services.  The  Deputies  are  chosen  for  four  years 
directly  by  the  people.  Each  state  has  also  its  own  separate 
government,  consisting  of  a  legislature  and  of  a  governor  who 
is  not  appointed  by  the  central  authorities,  as  the  prefects 
of  departments  are  in  France,  but  is  voted  for  directly  by 
the  people.  The  Eoman  Catholic  is  the  State  religion,  but 
all  creeds  are  tolerated.  The  population  numbers  about  four 
millions,  but  is  rapidly  increasing. 

Bolivia 

Agitated  by  almost  unceasing  revolutions,  Bolivia  has  made 
but  little  progress  since  it  became  a  distinct  and  independent 
nation  in  1825.  For  this  has  been  one  of  the  most  restless 
of  all  the  perturbed  and  unsettled  South  American  Kepub- 
lics.  For  a  long  time  it  did  succeed  in  keeping  its  credit  good 
and  avoiding  a  foreign  debt;  but  after  it  passed  under  the 
rule  of  President  Melgarejo  in  1865,  its  finances  became  seri- 
ously disordered,  and  the  disastrous  conflict  with  Chili,  in 
1879  and  1880,  made  its  condition  still  worse.  As  a  result 
of  the  war  it  was  obliged  to  mortgage  its  coast  territory,  hav- 
ing an  area  of  29,910  square  miles,  to  Chili,  and  it  thus  lost 
control  of  its  nitrate  beds,  which  had  been  an  important  source 
of  wealth  to  the  country,  and  was  also  deprived  of  all  access 
to  the  sea.  But  in  1896  Chili  agreed  to  give  it  a  seaport  if  it 
would  permanently  surrender  the  mortgaged  district. 

The  President  of  Bolivia  is  elected  for  six  years  by  a  direct 
vote  of  the  people,  but  he  cannot  be  reelected  for  the  term  that 
immediately  follows  his  own.  The  members  of  the  Senate  are 
chosen  for  six  years  by  direct  suffrage,  and  those  of  the  Cham- 
ber of  Deputies  for  four  years  in  the  same  manner.  The 
suffrage  belongs  to  all  who  can  read  and  write.  The  Roman 
Catholic  is  the  religion  of  the  State,  but  all  forms  of  worship 
are  tolerated. 

Such  is  Bolivia's  scheme  of  government ;  but  its  democratic 
Constitution  seems  to  have  little  influence  upon  the  politics  of 
the  country.  Not  the  suffrages  of  the  people,  but  the  strong 
hand  and  the  sword,  appoint  the  nation's  executive.  Even  as 
the  century  draws  to  its  end,^  Bolivia  is  the  scene  of  a  formi- 
dable insurrection  against  the  government. 

1  This  was  the  condition  of  affairs  at  the  beginning  of  1899. 


522  SPANISH   AND   PORTUGUESE   AMERICA         book  iv 


Brazil 

After  John  VI.  of  Portugal  had  returned  to  his  own  country 
(p.  117),  his  eldest  son,  Dom  Pedro,  was  chosen  Perpetual 
Defender  of  Brazil.  On  September  7,  1822,  he  proclaimed 
the  independence  of  the  country,  and  on  October  12  of  the 
same  year  he  was  made  Constitutional  Emperor  and  Perpetual 
Defender.  Not  without  a  struggle  did  Portugal  relinquish  her 
hold  upon  her  South  American  province ;  but  her  forces  were 
defeated  on  land  and  sea  by  the  Brazilians,  and  before  the 
end  of  the  year  1823  the  independence  of  Brazil  was  fairly 
established. 

But  the  newly  constituted  Emperor  found  it  a  difficult  task 
to  govern  his  wide-reaching  domains.  Opposed  to  liberal  prin- 
ciples, he  ruled  autocratically  and  excited  the  antagonism  of 
the  Republicans  all  over  the  Empire.  As  his  troops  were 
defeated  by  the  forces  of  the  Argentine  Confederation,  and  as 
the  finances  of  the  country  were  in  a  very  unsound  condition, 
he  grew  more  and  more  unpopular,  and  fiually  abdicated  in 
1831  and  sailed  for  Portugal,  after  naming  his  son,  Dom  Pedro, 
the  heir  apparent  of  the  throne.  Dom  Pedro  was  at  this 
time  only  five  years  old,  and  the  country  was  placed  under  a 
regency,  which  was  republican  in  its  character.  But  this 
Government  failed  to  establish  order,  and  in  1840  Dom  Pedro 
was  declared  of  age  in  order  that  rebellion  and  intrigue  might 
be  brought  to  an  end.  For  nearly  fifty  j^ears  Dom  Pedro 
maintained  his  sway,  and  he  proved  a  liberal  and  progressive 
ruler.  During  his  reign  the  slave-trade  was  abolished,  and 
steps  were  taken  to  briug  slavery  itself  to  an  end  by  gradual 
emancipation.  Moreover,  the  wealth  of  the  Empire  steadily 
increased,  trade  and  commerce  were  developed,  new  enter- 
prises were  promoted,  and  education  was  encouraged.  But 
the  Empire  was  out  of  harmony  with  its  surroundings.  The 
other  South  American  countries  were  Republics  at  least  in 
name,  and  the  people  of  Bra,zil  grew  restless  under  monarchi- 
cal rule.  Accordingly,  they  rose  against  the  government  in 
1889,  forced  Dom  Pedro  and  his  family  to  sail  for  Europe,  and 
proclaimed  a  Republic.  On  February  24,  1891,  a  new  Consti- 
tution was  adopted  and  a  republican  form  of  governuient  was 
established.     This  Constitution  was  formally  adopted  by  the 


CHAP.  HI  CHILI  523 

Constituent  Assembly  in  February  of  the  following  year ;  but 
the  country  did  not  secure  peace  and  quiet  by  proclaiming 
democratic  institutions.  On  the  contrary,  it  has  of  recent 
years  been  the  seat  of  conspiracy,  insurrection,  and  petty  war- 
fare, and  steady  progress  has  been  impossible.  Yet  its  popu- 
lation has  been  increasing,  its  industries  have  been  developed, 
and  the  interest  on  its  foreign  debt  has  usually  been  paid, 
though  not  without  serious  effort. 

By  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution  adopted  in  1891  the 
President  is  elected  for  six  years  by  an  electoral  college.  Both 
senators  and  deputies  are  chosen  by  direct  vote  of^the  people, 
the  former  for  nine  years  and  the  latter  for  three.  The  fran- 
chise belongs  to  all  persons  not  under  twenty-one  years  of  age, 
who  are  not  beggars,  illiterate,  soldiers  in  active  service,  or 
members  of  monastic  orders  under  vows  of  obedience.  The 
Republic  comprises  twenty  states,  each  of  which  must,  by  the 
Constitution,  be  organized  under  a  republican  form  of  govern- 
ment, and  have  its  administrative,  legislative,  and  judicial 
authorities  distinct  and  independent.  There  is  no  recognized 
state  religion,  all  forms  of  worship  being  on  an  equality.  Pri- 
mary education,  though  controlled  by  the  governments  of  the 
individual  states  and  not  by  the  central  Government,  is  made 
gratuitous  by  the  Constitution. 

Brazil  is  nearly  as  large  as  the  United  States  including 
Alaska,  having  an  area  of  3,218,182  square  miles.  Its  popula- 
tion is  about  17,500,000. 

Chili 

The  independence  of  Chili  was  secured  by  the  decisive 
battle  of  Maipo,  which  was  fought  on  April  5,  1818.  Soon 
afterward  a  government  was  formed,  and  Chili  took  its  place 
among  the  nations  of  the  world.  For  about  fifteen  years  its 
political  affairs  were  in  great  confusion,  as  its  rulers  assumed 
dictatorial  powers,  and  one  administration  followed  another  in 
rapid  succession.  But  in  1833  the  present  Constitution  of  the 
country  was  framed  and  promulgated,  and  since  that  time 
Chili  has  almost  continuously  enjoyed  the  blessings  of  firm 
and  stable  government.  Its  presidents  have  usually  adminis- 
tered its  affairs  with  wisdom;  its  credit  has  been  good  with 
foreign  nations ;  its  legislation  has  been  enlightened  and  pro- 


524  SPANISH   AND   PORTUGUESE   AMERICA         book  iv 

gressive.  But  in  1886  an  unscrupulous  man,  named  Don  Jose 
Manuel  Balmaceda,  was  elevated  to  the  presidency,  and  so 
despotically  did  he  govern  that  Chili  soon  became  the  theatre 
of  a  desperate  and  bloody  civil  war.  On  the  first  of  January, 
1891,  Congress  pronounced  Balmaceda  guilty  of  treason  to  the 
Constitution,  deposed  him  from  his  office,  and  named  Senor 
Jorge  Montt  as  its  assistant  in  its  endeavors  to  make  the 
authority  of  the  Constitution  paramount.  This  decree  Balma- 
ceda resisted,  and,  though  the  navy  supported  Congress,  the 
army  remained  faithful  to  him,  and  thus  he  was  able  to  defy 
the  power  gf  Congress  for  several  months.  The  contest  was 
not  settled  until  Balmaceda's  party  had  been  defeated  in  two 
fiercely  fought  battles.  But  finally,  realizing  that  further  resist- 
ance was  useless,  Balmaceda  committed  suicide  on  December  19, 
1891 ;  and  on  November  4  of  the  same  year  Jorge  Montt  was 
elected  President. 

This  deplorable  and  sanguinary  struggle  is  hardly  to  be 
classed  with  the  revolutionary  outbreaks  that  have  convulsed 
the  greater  portion  of  Spanish  America  for  three  quarters  of  a 
century.  It  arose  through  the  efforts  of  Congress  to  set  aside 
a  tyrannical  ruler,  and  when  it  was  ended,  law  and  order  were 
reestablished,  and  the  civil  strife  was  seen  to  have  been  an 
unusual  episode  in  the  history  of  the  country,  not  the  begin- 
ning of  anarchy  and  political  turmoil.  Since  Balmaceda's 
death  the  country  has  been  as  well  governed  as  it  was  in  the 
long  period  that  preceded  his  rise  to  power.  In  the  honesty 
with  which  it  meets  its  obligations,  in  the  sobriety  of  its  legis- 
lation, and  in  its  capacity  for  intellectual  and  material  progress. 
Chili  compares  favorably  with  the  enlightened  countries  of 
to-day.  At  the  same  time  it  must  be  admitted  that  its  pros- 
perity and  the  settled  character  of  its  government  have  been 
due  to  the  ascendency  of  a  class  rather  than  to  the  free  and 
orderly  working  of  republican  institutions.  For  Chili  is  in  the 
hands  of  a  landed  aristocracy,  whose  members  have  monopo- 
lized the  powers  granted  by  the  Constitution.  The  State, 
therefore,  is  not  a  democracy,  but  a  strongly  organized  and 
centralized  oligarchy,^  Accordingly,  it  must  not  be  supposed 
that  even  in  this  well-ordered  Spanish-American  country  the 
supreme  law  of  the  land  is  fully  obeyed  either  in  letter  or 
1  Spanish- Americau  Manual  for  1891. 


CHAP.  Ill  COLOMBIA  525 

spirit.  We  are  not  to  be  surprised,  then,  that  tlie  President 
sometimes  names  his  own  successor,  though  he  is  supposed  to 
be  chosen  for  five  years,  indirectly,  by  a  body  of  electors.  The 
Constitution  itself  secures  the  election  of  the  wealthier  class 
to  the  Senate  and  the  Chamber  of  Deputies ;  for  the  senators, 
whose  term  is  six  years  and  who  are  chosen  indirectly  by  the 
provinces,  receive  no  salary  and  must  have  an  income  of  two 
thousand  dollars  a  year  or  its  equivalent;  while  the  deputies, 
who  serve  for  three  years,  also  receive  no  salary  and  must  pos- 
sess property  that  yields  them  an  equivalent  of  five  hundred 
dollars  a  year.  The  deputies  are  supposed  to  be  elected  by  the 
direct  vote  of  the  people  in  the  provinces,  but  the  vote  is  not 
always  a  fair  expression  of  the  popular  will.  There  are  no 
provincial  legislatures,  as  the  Government  is  too  highly  cen- 
tralized to  share  its  authority  with  the  powers  that  might  inter- 
fere with  its  full  control.  All  who  are  twenty-one  years  of  age 
and  can  read  and  write  have  the  right  to  vote.  The  Roman 
Catholic  is  the  religion  supported  by  the  State,  but  entire 
freedom  of  worship  is  allowed.  Both  elementary  and  higher 
education  are  provided  by  the  Government  without  charge. 

Colombia 

The  old  Spanish  viceroyalty  of  New  Granada  made  a  part 
of  the  Colombian  Confederation  until  that  organization  was 
dissolved  in  1832.  Becoming  then  a  separate  Republic,  it 
kept  the  name  of  New  Granada  until  1858,  when  it  was 
changed  into  a  confederation  of  eight  states  under  the  title 
of  the  Confederation  Granadina.  But  this  political  arrange- 
ment was  short-lived.  In  18G3  a  new  federal  Constitution 
was  adopted,  and  the  State  was  now  known  as  the  United 
States  of  Colombia.  In  1886,  however,  it  took  the  name  of 
the  Republic  of  Colombia,  which  it  still  retains.  As  these 
changes  would  suggest,  the  country  has  had  its  full  share  of 
insurrections  and  civil  disturbances ;  and  such  progress  as  it 
has  made  has  been  accomplished  during  those  rarely  recurring 
periods  when  quiet  has  been  maintained  by  an  unusually  able 
ruler.  In  the  last  two  decades  of  the  century  there  have  been 
several  uprisings  of  a  formidable  character,  and  the  govern- 
ment forces  have  not  always  been  able  to  hold  their  own 
against  the  insurgents.     But  the  population  of   the   country 


626  SPANISH  AND   PORTUGUESE    AMERICA        book  iv 

is  increasing,  its  mineral  and  agricultural  resources  are  vast, 
and  its  import  and  export  trade,  though  varying  greatly  from 
year  to  year,  shows  a  tendency  to  expand.  Under  settled  con- 
ditions its  industries  must  have  an  immense  development. 
Following  the  example  of  other  South  American  countries, 
Colombia  adopted  in  1863  a  Constitution  very  much  like  that 
of  the  United  States.  But  in  1886  this  Constitution  was  set 
aside  in  favor  of  one  which  was  less  truly  republican  in  char- 
acter. For  the  nine  States  which  had  made  up  the  Republic 
were  deprived  of  their  sovereignty  and  made  into  mere  depart- 
ments, each  under  the  control  of  a  governor  nominated  by  the 
President.  Thus  the  principle  of  centralization  has  received 
the  same  recognition  here  that  it  has  in  France,  where  the 
President  appoints  the  prefects  of  the  departments.  The 
President  of  Colombia  is  chosen  for  six  years  by  electoral  col- 
leges. The  members  of  the  Senate  are  appointed  for  six  years 
by  the  governors  of  the  departments  without  much  regard  to 
the  popular  will ;  those  of  the  House  of  Representatives  are 
elected  by  universal  suffrage  for  four  years.  The  State  recog- 
nizes the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  but  permits  all  forms  of 
worship.  It  has  done  much  to  encourage  education,  public 
instruction  having  been  taken  from  the  hands  of  the  clergy  in 
1870  and  placed  under  the  control  of  the  Government,  a  reform 
in  the  school  system  being  at  the  same  time  carried  out.  But 
primary  education,  though  gratuitous,  is  not  compulsory. 

The  area  of  Colombia  is  a  little  above  500,000  square  miles, 
and  its  population  numbers  about  4,000,000. 

Ecuador 

The  Republic  of  Ecuador  came  into  existence  on  May  11, 
1830,  through  the  disruption  of  the  Colombian  Federation. 
Like  the  other  Spanish  States  of  South  America,  it  attempted 
to  establish  a  republican  form  of  government,  and  to  that  end 
adopted  a  Constitution ;  but  so  much  power  was  placed  in  the 
hands  of  the  President  as  to  render  him  a  despot  rather  than 
the  head  of  a  free  State.  For  he  could  arrest  and  imprison 
without  trial  all  persons  whom  he  considered  dangerous  to  the 
State.  This  power  was  unscrupulously  used  by  various  presi- 
dents, and  for  many  years  the  political  history  of  Ecuador  was 


CHAP.  Ill  PARAGUAY  527 

chiefly  distinguished  by  petty  tyranny,  intrigue,  reactionary 
measures,  and  consequent  revolutions.  Dr.  Gabriel  Garcia 
Moreno,  who  was  made  President  by  the  Conservatives  in 
1861,  made  himself  conspicuous  by  his  opposition  to  progress 
and  education,  and  by  his  subserviency  to  a  narrow  and  bigoted 
priesthood.  More  than  once  forced  to  retire  from  office,  he 
reinstated  himself  by  force  or  by  underhand  measures ;  but  he 
was  assassinated  in  1875.  Before  his  death  the  President's 
power  to  imprison  on  suspicion  was  taken  away ;  and  in  spite 
of  its  corrupt  and  unsettled  political  condition  Ecuador  has 
made  some  progress  in  education  and  in  material  prosperity. 
But  it  is  still  one  of  the  most  backward  and  poorly  governed 
States  of  South  America.  No  later  than  1895  it  was  the  scene 
of  an  insurrection,  as  a  result  of  which  General  Alfaro  was 
made  dictator  and  afterward  elected  President. 

The  President  is  elected  for  four  years  directly  by  the 
people.  There  are  two  Congressional  Houses :  the  Senate, 
composed  of  two  members  for  each  province,  who  are  elected 
for  four  years,  and  a  Chamber  of  Deputies,  whose  members 
are  chosen  for  two  years.  The  right  to  vote  belongs  to  all  male 
adults  who  can  read  and  write,  and  who  belong  to  the  Koman 
Catholic  Church. 

Paraguay 

None  of  the  South  American  countries  have  been  more  unfortu- 
nate than  this  small,  but  rich  and  fertile  State.  From  1814  to 
1840  it  was  under  the  rule  of  Dr.  Jose  G.  R.  Francia,  who 
assumed  the  power  of  a  dictator  and  governed  as  a  despot. 
After  his  death  there  was  an  interregnum  of  two  years,  at  the 
end  of  which  time  two  of  his  nephews,  Mariano  Roque  Alonso 
and  Don  Carlos  Antonio  Lopez,  were  chosen  Consuls  of  the 
Republic.  And  in  1844  a  new  Constitution  was  adopted  by 
Congress,  and  Don  Carlos  Antonio  Lopez  was  elected  sole 
President.  This  position  he  retained  until  1862,  when  his 
son,  Don  Francisco  Solano  Lopez,  succeeded  him  and  soon 
brought  the  country  into  a  desolating  war  with  Brazil,  Uru- 
guay, and  the  Argentine  Republic.  The  struggle  lasted  for 
five  years,  and  when  it  ended  with  the  death  of  Lopez  in  1870, 
Paraguay  had  lost  a  large  portion  of  its  population  and  was  in 
an  utterly  impoverished  and  prostrate  condition.     However,  it 


528  SPANISH  AND   PORTUGUESE   AMERICA         book  iv 

proclaimed  a  new  Constitution  and  made  an  earnest  effort  to 
establish  order  and  regain  prosperity.  For  many  years  its 
gains  were  slow,  but  in  the  last  decade  of  the  century  it  took 
its  place  among  the  growing  and  progressive  South  American 
countries.  Possessing  vast  natural  resources  and  favored  with 
an  excellent  climate,  it  showed  great  recnperative  energy,  and 
its  trade  and  population  increased  from  year  to  year.  Since 
the  death  of  Lopez  it  has  been  little  troubled  with  revolutions. 
Paraguay  has  an  area  of  98,000  square  miles,  and  a  popula- 
tion of  about  500,000.  The  President  is  elected  for  four  years 
by  an  electoral  college,  and  eight  years  must  then  pass  before 
he  can  be  chosen  a  second  time.  The  members  of  the  Senate 
and  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  sit  respectively  for  six  years 
and  for  four  years,  and  are  chosen  directly  by  the  people. 

Peru 

Peru  has  not  had  a  fortunate  history  since  its  independence 
was  established  in  1824.  For  twenty  years  it  was  torn  by 
civil  strife  and  subjected  to  the  despotic  rule  of  military 
presidents  who  believed  that  they  could  solve  the  problems  of 
government  by  an  appeal  to  the  sword.  In  1845  began  a  long 
period  of  progress  and  prosperity  which  lasted,  with  only  one 
or  two  short  interruptions,  for  thirty-five  years.  During  this 
time  the  Constitution  was  remodelled  and  put,  as  to  essentials, 
in  its  present  form ;  slavery  was  abolished ;  the  Indians  were 
released  from  paying  tribute;  and  many  internal  improve- 
ments were  made,  though  not  without  an  enormous  increase  of 
the  public  debt.  From  1872  to  1876  the  country  was  under 
the  administration  of  Don  Manuel  Pedro,  who  governed  it 
with  such  wisdom  and  integrity  that  his  memory  is  still 
cherished  by  the  Peruvian  people. 

But  in  1879  began  another  season  of  calamity  and  disaster. 
For  in  that  year  Peru  and  Bolivia  were  drawn  into  a  war  with 
Chili  toward  which  events  had  long  been  leading,  but  which 
found  them  poorly  prepared.  The  difficulty  arose  over  a  strip 
of  land  on  the  sea-coast  to  which  Chili  and  Bolivia  both  laid 
claim. ^    To  enforce  her  claims  Chili  declared  war  upon  Bolivia, 

1  It  is  believed  by  many  that  Chili  was  the  aggressor  in  this  war,  but  this 
view  is  hardly  borue  out  by  the  facts  of  the  case.    Chili  claimed  that  her 


CHAP.  Ill 


PERU  529 


and  as  Peru  had  formed  an  offensive  and  defensive  alliance 
with  the  latter  country,  she  was  forced  to  take  part  in  the 
struggle. 

But  the  armies  of  Peru  and  Bolivia  proved  to  be  no  match 
for  those  of  Chili ;  nor  was  the  Peruvian  navy  able  to  cope 
with  the  Chilian  warships.  Consequently,  after  a  sanguinary 
and  wasting  conflict,  the  disputed  tract  was  ceded  to  Cliili,^ 
and  peace  was  made  on  October  20,  1883.  But  this  encroach- 
ment upon  her  boundaries  was  not  the  worst  result  which  Peru 
experienced  from  the  war.  For  the  bitter  and  savage  conflict 
engendered  a  spirit  of  lawlessness  which  was  not  suppressed 
for  many  years.  One  insurrection  followed  another,  and  the 
Government  found  it  almost  impossible  to  establish  its  author- 
ity. Order  was  however  at  last  restored,  and  the  country  is 
now  endeavoring  to  regain  its  lost  prosperity  and  to  heal  the 

territory  extended  to  the  twenty-third  parallel  of  latitude,  and  this  claim  was 
not  disputed  by  Bolivia  until  copper  mines  and  rich  deposits  of  guano  were 
found  between  the  twenty-tliird  and  twenty-fourth  parallels.  Bolivia  then 
claimed  that  the  twenty-fourth  parallel  was  Chili's  northern  boundary;  and 
it  was  not  until  Chili  had  made  large  concessions  with  a  view  to  adjusting  the 
dispute  that  slie  finally  resorted  to  war.  In  1879  the  French  minister  at  Cliili 
made  a  report  to  his  Government  upon  the  war  between  Peru  and  Chili,  and 
quoted  a  diplomatic  note  of  the  prefect  of  Antofagasta  as  fairly  expressing  the 
attitude  of  the  Chilian  Government  in  its  controversy  with  the  other  two 
powers.  A  portion  of  the  note  (as  translated  from  the  Spanish  by  the  French 
minister)  reads:  "  Le  gouverneraent  du  Chili  ne  peut  voir  dans  la  Bolive 
qu'un  pays  frere  et  ami,  avec  lequel  il  vent  maintenir  toujours  et  resserrer  les 
relations  les  plus  cordial  du  fraternite',  et  fera  tons  les  efforts  en  son  pouvoir 
afin  que  la  paix  et  I'amitie  existant  jusqu'a  ce  jour  ne  soient  pas  troublees." 
The  causes  of  the  quarrel  are  also  discussed  in  "  Historiade  la  Guerrade  Amer- 
ica entre  Chile,  Peruy  Bolivia,"  por  Don  Tomas  Caivano,  Ch.  I.,  pp.  liM7 ;  and 
in  "  Histoire  de  la  Guerre  du  Pacifique,"  par  Diego  Barras  .\rana,  published  in 
Paris  in  1882,  and  reviewed  at  length  in  the  Nation,  34:  361. 

1  Tarapaca,  the  southern  province  in  the  disputed  tract,  was  ceded  to  Chili 
"  unconditionally  and  forever."  Tacna  and  Arica,  the  provinces  immediately 
to  the  north  of  Tarapaca,  were  to  be  held  by  Chili  for  ten  years,  and  at  the 
end  of  that  time  the  inhabitants  of  the  two  provinces  were  to  decide  by  a  pleb- 
iscite whether  they  wished  to  make  a  part  of  Peru  or  of  Chili,  it  being 
agreed  that  the  country  which  obtained  them  should  pay  the  other  810,000,0(10. 
The  plebiscite  was  never  held,  owing  to  political  disturbances  in  Peru;  but  it 
became  apparent  that  the  people  of  Tacna  and  Arica  were  overwhelmingly  in 
favor  of  belonging  to  Peru,  and  Chili  showed  herself  ready  to  give  them  up 
whenever  Peru  could  guarantee  the  payment  of  the  .'ii;iO,000,OfX).  It  was  also 
agreed  that  Peruvian  creditors  should  receive  fifty  per  cent  from  the  sale  of 
the  guano  beds,  though  Chili  should  have  exclusive  rights  to  new  deposits  dis- 
covered in  the  ceded  territory.  Bureau  of  American  Rei)ub]ics,  Bulletin  No. 
60,  p.  27  ;  "  Animal  Register  "  and  "  Appleton's  Annual  Cyclopedia  "  for  1895 
and  succeeding  years. 
2u 


530  SPANISH  AND   PORTUGUESE   AMERICA        book  iv 

wounds  inflicted  by  crushing  defeat  and  distracting  civil  strife. 
But,  though  it  is  making  progress,  its  recovery  is  slow. 

The  executive  power  of  Peru  is  vested  in  a  President,  who  is 
chosen  for  four  years  indirectly.  The  legislative  power  belongs 
to  a  Senate  and  a  House  of  Representatives.  The  members  of 
each  House  are  chosen  indirectly  by  electoral  colleges  for  a 
term  of  six  years.  The  State  religion  is  the  Roman  Catholic, 
and  the  law  does  not  countenance  any  other  form  of  public 
worship,  though  the  rule  is  not  strictly  enforced.  Elementary 
education  is  free  and  compulsory. 

Uruguay 

Securing  its  independence  in  1828,  Uruguay  adopted  a  repub- 
lican Constitution  two  years  later;  but  the  coxmtry  showed 
itself  utterly  unequal  to  the  task  of  self-government.  For 
seventy  years  its  history  has  been  a  record  of  insurrection, 
foreign  warfare,  political  corruption,  and  financial  embarrass- 
ment. As  late  as  1898  the  country  was  disturbed  by  a  revolu- 
tionary conspiracy  and  by  a  revolt  of  two  regiments  of  the 
army,  who  seized  the  arsenal  at  Montevideo,  the  capital,  and 
resisted  the  Government  so  strongly  that  the  city  was  declared 
to  be  in  a  state  of  siege.  Order  was  only  established  by  a 
proclamation  of  amnesty  by  which  the  ringleaders  were  allowed 
to  leave  the  country  unmolested.  These  frequent  outbreaks 
have  prevented  good  government,  and  the  debt  of  the  country 
has  been  enormously  increased  in  recent  years  by  corrupt  and 
extravagant  administration  of  the  national  finances.  In  1885 
the  public  debt  amounted  to  $55,537,000 ;  at  the  end  of  1897 
it  stood  at  $120,765,000.1 

It  is  only  by  an  abuse  of  language  that  such  a  country  as 
Uruguay  can  be  termed  a  republic ;  yet  the  Constitution  of 
1828  provides  for  a  republican  form  of  government.  The  suf- 
frage is  bestowed  upon  all  who  can  read  and  write.  The  Pres- 
ident and  the  senators  are  chosen  indirectly,  for  four  and  six 
years  respectively.  The  members  of  the  Chamber  of  Repre- 
sentatives are  elected  for  three  years  directly  by  the  people. 
All  religions  are  tolerated,  but  the  Roman  Catholic  is  that  of 
the    State.     Primary  education  is  compulsory.     The  country 

1  "  Current  History,"  8: 926. 


CHAP.  Ill  VENEZUELA  631 

has  an  area  of  72,110  square  miles,  which  is  about  that  of  the 
State  of  Nebraska,  and  a  population  of  from  400,000  to  500,000. 
It  contains  deposits  of  gold,  silver,  copper,  and  other  min- 
erals, and  has  a  soil  of  remarkable  fertility. 

Venezuela 

Becoming  an  independent  Republic  in  1829,  Venezuela  chose 
Paez  to  be  its  first  President.  The  country  prospered  under 
his  liberal  and  progressive  rule,^  and  for  nearly  twenty  years 
it  suffered  little  from  political  upheavals.  General  Monagas 
headed  a  rebellion  against  the  Government  in  1831,  but  he  was 
soon  suppressed ;  nor  did  another  outbreak,  which  occurred  in 
1835  and  lasted  into  the  following  year,  succeed  in  destroying 
the  Constitution.  It  Avas  Paez  who  crushed  both  of  these 
insurrections.  But  after  serving  as  President  for  the  second 
time  from  1839  till  1813,  he  himself  took  the  field  against  the 
Government  in  1848,  having  become  alarmed  at  the  attempts 
to  subvert  the  Constitution  and  to  rule  as  dictator  rather  than 
as  president.  Monagas,  however,  proved  too  strong  for  his  old 
opponent.  After  a  short  struggle  Paez  and  his  adherents  were 
completely  routed,  and  Paez  himself  was  captured  and  put  in 
prison,  where  his  treatment  was  unpardonably  severe.  Being 
released  in  May,  1850,  he  went  to  New  York;  and  though 
twice  afterward  he  returned  to  Venezuela,  he  found  that  he 
was  unable  to  quiet  dissension  there,  and  he  finally  returned 
to  New  York  to  end  his  days.  His  death  occurred  on  May  6, 
1873. 

The  disturbances  which  drove  Paez  froiu  the  country  con- 
tinued until  the  latter  part  of  1870.  They  grew  out  of  the 
fundamental  disagreement  of  the  Unionists  and  the  Federal- 
ists, which  was  like  that  of  the  Federalists  and  the  Anti- 
Federalists  in  the  early  days  of  the  United  States.  The 
Unionists  desired  to  establish  a  strong  central  government ; 
the  Federalists  aimed  to  secure  the  sovereignty  of  the  separate 
States ;  and,  finding  an  able  leader  in  Don  Guzman  Blanco, 

1  During  the  administration  of  Paez,  laws  were  passed  "  subjecting  persons 
accused  of  treason  to  the  ordinary  civil  jurisdiction,  establishing  freedom  of 
worship,  abolishing  the  monoixily  of  tobacco,  and  abolishing  tithes." —  "Docu- 
ments relating  to  the  Public  Life  of  Paez,"  p.  'M. 


532  SPANISH   AND   PORTUGUESE   AMERICA        book  iv 

they  finally  triumphed  over  their  opponents.  From  December, 
1870,  until  February,  1873,  Blanco  ruled  the  country,  nominally 
as  President,  but  really  as  dictator.  Having  quieted  the  coun- 
try by  his  firm  exercise  of  power,  he  became  its  legitimate 
constitutional  President  for  four  years.  His  term  expired  in 
1877,  but  twice  afterward  he  was  reelected,  and  gave  the  coun- 
try the  benefits  of  a  progressive  and  efficient  administration. 

Blanco's  excellent  rule,  however,  did  not  secure  settled 
order  and  general  recognition  of  the  principles  of  self-govern- 
ment. During  recent  years  Venezuela  has  been  the  scene  of 
serious  political  disturbances,  which  culminated  in  a  formidable 
insurrection  against  the  Government  in  1899.  The  uprising 
was  headed  by  General  Guerra,  who  found  numerous  adherents 
in  the  mountain  districts,  while  the  cities  for  the  most  part 
were  loyal  to  the  rule  of  President  Andrade.  At  first  General 
Guerra  met  with  scant  success,  and,  after  being  severely  de- 
feated by  the  government  troops,  was  obliged  to  flee  into 
Colombia.  But  he  proved  to  be  a  very  stubborn  antagonist ; 
for,  rallying  his  forces,  he  routed  the  armies  of  the  Govern- 
ment, and  in  October,  1899,  he  succeeded  in  driving  President 
Andrade  from  his  capital.  Such  occurrences  show  that  the 
country  of  Paez  has  not  yet  learned  the  true  nature  of  repub- 
lican institutions. 

Venezuela's  difficulties  with  Great  Britain  over  the  frontier 
question  never  had  any  great  intrinsic  importance;  they  assumed 
a  fictitious  importance  through  the  firm  stand  taken  by  the 
United  States  Government  against  Great  Britain's  supposed 
encroachments  u].X)n  the  territory  of  a  weaker  power.  How 
the  matter  was  referred  to  arbitration  has  already  been  related 
(pp.  320,  460).  The  Commission  which  was  appointed  to  settle 
the  difficulty  met  at  Paris  in  June,  1899.  Professor  F.  Martens 
of  the  University  of  St.  Petersburg  was  its  president ;  two 
representatives  of  the  United  States  and  two  of  Great  Britain 
served  with  him  on  the  Commission.  The  case  for  Venezuela 
was  presented  chiefly  by  United  States  counsel,  of  whom  ex- 
President  Harrison  was  the  most  distinguished,  Avhile  emi- 
nent English  lawyers  sustained  Great  Britain's  position  in 
the  controversy.  For  nearly  four  months  the  Commission 
listened  to  the  opposing  arguments  and  deliberated  over  the 
question,  and  finally  gave  its  decision  early  in  October.    Some- 


CHAP.  Ill  VENEZUELA  533 

what  to  the  disappointment  of  those  Americans  who  had  ac- 
cused Great  Britain  of  unfair  dealing  in  the  matter,  the  decision 
was  largely  in  favor  of  that  power.  For  Great  Britain  was 
allowed  to  retain  a  very  considerable  portion  of  the  gold  fields 
to  which  Venezuela  laid  claim,  and  which  had  been  a  chief 
cause  of  the  dispute  between  the  two  countries. 

By  the  Constitution  promulgated  in  1893  Venezuela  is  a 
federative  Republic,  under  the  executive  authority  of  a  Presi- 
dent who  is  chosen  indirectly  for  four  years.  But  that  the 
President  is  often  in  reality  a  dictator  has  already  been  made 
apparent.  It  has  also  been  shown  that  the  members  of  the 
Senate  are  appointed  by  the  departmental  governments  and 
not  in  accordance  with  democratic  principles.  The  members 
of  the  House  of  Representatives  are  elected  for  four  years  by 
direct  and  universal  male  suffrage.  The  State  religion  is  the 
Roman  Catholic.  The  adherents  of  other  faiths  are  not 
allowed  to  worship  in  public,  though  the  rule  is  not  strictly 
enforced.  Elementary  education  is  free  and  compulsory ;  and 
illiteracy,  which  was  general  a  generation  ago,  is  steadily 
diminishing.  Venezuela  has  an  area  of  more  than  5,500,000 
square  miles  and  a  population  of  about  2,500,000. 


B0(3K   Y 

UNCLASSIFIED   COUNTRIES 


LIBERIA 

JAPA]^ 

HAITI 

INDIA 

SANTO  DOMINGO 

SIAM 

CHAPTER   I 

LIBERIA 

The  Republic  of  Liberia  had  rather  a  philanthropic  than  a 
political  origin.  Very  early  in  the  century  certain  benevolent 
Americans,  among  whom  were  Clay,  Madison,  and  Bushrod 
Washington,  undertook  to  provide  a  home  for  freedmen  and 
other  negroes,  and  the  American  Colonization  Society  was  the 
outcome  of  their  efforts.  Conceived  in  1811  and  formally 
organized  at  Princeton  College  in  181G,  the  Society  sent  two 
agents  to  the  west  coast  of  Africa  in  1817  to  find  a  suitable 
location  for  the  proposed  Colony.  The  agents  selected  Sherbro 
Island,  and  here  a  band  of  eighty-eight  colonists  settled  in 
1820.  Not  finding  the  spot  as  desirable  as  they  had  supposed 
it  to  be,  they  transferred  themselves  to  the  continent  in  1822, 
and  established  a  small  settlement  at  Cape  Mesurado.  As  the 
Colonization  Society  continued  its  labors,  the  number  of  these 
original  settlers  was  gradually  SAvelled,  and  altogether  eighteen 
thousand  persons  were  sent  from  America  to  join  them.  For 
many  years,  however,  the  colonists  remained  under  the  Society's 
control ;  for,  though  certain  rights  of  government  were  con- 
ferred upon  them  in  1824,  and  a  Constitution  giving  them 
larger  powers  was  granted  them  in  1828,  the  Society  reserved 
to  itself  the  final  authority  in  all  matters  of  importance.  It 
was  not  until  1847  that  the  Colony  acquired  complete  inde- 
pendence, and  became  a  Republic.  That  its  people  were  fitted 
for  this  new  dignity  was  not  clearly  apparent ;  but  England 
objected  to  the  duty  on  imports  which  the  colonists  imposed, 
and  the  only  way  by  which  the  colonists  could  carry  their 
point  was  to  acquire  the  rights  of  a  free  self-governing  state. 
Accordingly,  on  July  26,  1847,  the  Colony,  acting  under  the 
advice  of  the  Society  in  America,  declared  itself  an  indepen- 
dent state. 

689 


540  UNCLASSIFIP:D    countries  book  V 

For  ten  years  previous  to  this  event  it  had  been  governed 
by  Joseph  J.  Roberts,  a  negro  of  unusual  intelligence,  who 
had  administered  affairs  so  ably  and  discreetly  that  he  was 
now  chosen  President  of  the  newly  constituted  Republic.  No 
longer  acting  as  the  agent  of  the  Colonization  Society,  but  able 
to  shape  his  own  policy,  he  showed  great  efficiency  and  dip- 
lomatic skill.  He  made  Liberia  respected  along  the  West 
African  coast,  advanced  its  boundaries,  and  waged  successfrd 
war  with  native  tribes  who  disputed  his  authority.  But,  more 
than  all  this,  he  obtained  foreign  recognition  for  his  country 
by  visiting  the  capitals  of  Europe  and  presenting  its  claims 
with  dignity  and  address.  So  favorable  was  the  impression 
which  he  made,  and  so  energetic  was  his  administration  of 
affairs,  that  the  early  years  of  the  Republic  were  full  of 
promise  and  excited  much  favorable  comment.  In  1855  an 
English  writer  declared  that  the  "  Republic  of  Liberia  has 
already  taken  an  honorable  place  among  the  nations  of  the 
earth  " ;  ^  and  American  writers  were  equally  enthusiastic  in 
their  appreciation  of  the  black  man's  commonwealth.^ 

But  such  commendation  sprang  from  generous  sentiment 
rather  than  from  adequate  knowledge  of  facts.  At  the  time 
when  the  Republic  was  established,  and  for  some  years  after- 
ward, the  abolition  movement  was  at  its  height  in  the  United 
States.  Indignant  over  the  wrongs  and  sufferings  of  the  negro, 
many  people  in  the  Northern  States  exaggerated  his  capacities 
and  idealized  his  achievements.  They  expected  much  from 
Liberia,  and  they  estimated  results  by  their  expectations. 
Hence,  for  some  years  after  the  close  of  the  Civil  War,  they 
took  a  roseate  view  of  the  growth,  development,  and  prospects 
of  the  black  man's  Republic.  But  gradually  the  world  dis- 
covered that  Liberia  was  not  a  growing,  progressive,  and  well- 
ordered  State.  Roberts  retired  from  the  chief  magistracy^ 
after  serving  for  several  terms ;  and  his  successors  were  by  no 
means  equal  to  him  in  energy  and  ability.  Nor  did  the  Re- 
public attract  as  many  colonists  as  had  been  expected.  In  1857 
it  increased  its  extent  and  population  by  uniting  with  Mary- 
land, a  negro  Republic  to  the  east  of  Palm  as,  which  had  been 

1  London  Quarterly,  4:  507. 

2  North  American  Revieiv,  125:  147  and  517. 

8  He  retired  in  1857,  but  he  was  again  elected  in  1871. 


CHAP.  I  LIBERIA  841 

founded  by  people  in  Maryland  in  1821.  But  the  negroes  of 
America  have  shown  little  inclination  to  leave  the  United 
States  in  order  to  share  the  doubtful  advantages  of  living 
under  a  black  man's  government.  That  Liberia  would  have 
prospered  if  it  had  received  a  much  larger  infusion  of  Afro- 
American  blood  cannot  be  asserted  with  any  confidence.  The 
negro  in  the  United  States  has  shown  greater  aptitude  for 
political  corruption  than  for  enlightened  citizenship.  But 
certainly  Liberia  has  languished,  its  political  life  having 
grown  feeble,  and  the  civilized  part  of  its  population  seeming 
unable  to  hold  its  own  resolutely  against  the  great  mass  of 
surrounding  barbarism.^  Of  its  1,068,000  people  only  about 
18,000  are  of  Americo- African  descent ;  and  only  4000  or  5000 
children  are  to  be  found  in  the  schools.  The  wealth  of  the 
country  does  not  increase  and  its  trade  is  not  expanding.  The 
annual  revenues,  which  are  derived  almost  entirely  from  cus- 
toms duties,  are  hardly  sufficient  to  meet  the  annual  expendi- 
ture, still  less  to  pay  the  interest  on  the  country's  indebtedness. 
English  capitalists  advanced  £100,000  to  Liberia  in  1871,  but 
no  interest  on  this  amount  was  paid  after  1874. 

The  Constitution  of  Liberia  is  modelled  after  that  of  the 
United  States.  All  males  who  are  of  age  and  own  real  estate 
have  the  right  of  suffrage,  and  the  elections  are  conducted  by 
ballot.  The  executive  is  vested  in  a  President,  who  is  chosen 
for  two  years.  The  legislative  branch  of  the  government  con- 
sists of  a  Senate,  whose  members  are  elected  for  four  years, 
and  a  House  of  Representatives,  whose  members  are  elected 
for  two.  Liberia  extends  500  miles  along  the  coast,  and  has 
an  area  of  14,360  square  miles. 

1  Some  of  the  native  tribes,  notably  the  Mandingoes,  are  spirited  and 
intelligent. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE    REPUBLIC    OF    HAITI 

Liberia  is  not  the  only  black  man's  state  that  owes  its 
origin  to  America,  for  the  negroes  of  Haiti  first  acquired  the 
love  of  freedom  from  the  American  Revolution. 

Their  masters  were  French  planters ;  for  the  French  gained 
possession  of  the  western  portion  of  the  island  of  Santo  Do- 
mingo in  the  earlier  half  of  the  seventeenth  century,  when  the 
Spaniards  abandoned  it  for  the  more  alluring  fields  of  Mexico 
and  South  America.  Out  of  this  bloodless  conquest  the  French 
made  a  prosperous  Colony,  and,  bringing  slaves  from  Africa, 
they  held  them  in  subjection  for  more  than  a  century.  But 
when  they  bore  aid  to  their  American  allies  in  the  Revolution- 
ary War,  they  unwisely  took  their  slaves  with  them  to  par- 
ticipate in  the  struggle  for  freedom ;  and  the  negroes  thus 
acquired  a  love  of  liberty  which  they  never  lost.  They 
returned  indeed  to  Haiti  when  the  war  for  independence  was 
over,  and  still  rendered  obedience  to  their  masters.  But  they 
were  discontented,  and  their  discontent  soon  found  opportu- 
nity for  expression.  The  French  planters  revolted  against  the 
home  Government,  and  the  whites  on  the  island  who  remained 
loyal  called  oh  the  slaves  to  help  them  put  down  the  insurrec- 
tion. Only  too  eagerly  did  the  blacks  respond  to  the  call. 
They  rushed  into  the  conflict  as  tigers  leap  upon  their  prey, 
and,  once  tasting  blood,  they  waged  war  more  like  demons 
than  human  beings.  Haiti  soon  became  a  wild  scene  of  con- 
flagration, rapine,  and  bloodshed ;  and  though  the  negroes  were 
for  a  time  kept  under  restraint  by  that  remarkable  man,  Tous- 
saint  L'Ouverture,  they  finally  drove  the  French  entirely  out 
of  the  island.^ 

1  The  brutality  of  the  war  bet-vyeen  the  French  and  the  blacks  under  Des- 
salines  is  shown  in  Marcus  Rainsford's  "Black  Empire  of  Haiti"  (published 
iul805J.    See  pp.  337-339. 

542 


CHAP.  II  THE   REPUBLIC   OF    HAITI  543 

It  could  not  be  expected  that  independence  thus  gained 
would  be  wisely  used.  The  negroes  were  free,  but  they  were 
also  coarse,  ignorant,  sensual,  and  brutish ;  and  self-govern- 
ment was  a  term  that  conveyed  no  meaning  to  them.  For  a 
time,  therefore,  they  submitted  to  the  tyrants  of  their  own 
race,  who  governed  them  with  despotic  rigor  and  cruelty. 
Dessalines  was  one  of  the  most  notorious  of  these  rulers.  The 
governments  thus  established  were  variously  termed  empires, 
monarchies,  and  constitutional  presidencies ;  but  these  names 
had  little  or  no  significance.  Whatever  the  ruler  was  called, 
he  was  in  fact  a  despot,  whose  qualifications  for  governing 
were  native  vigor  and  animal  courage,  and  Avho  maintained 
himself  in  power  by  the  fear  which  he  inspired.  From  1822 
until  1843  Santo  Domingo,  the  eastern  half  of  the  island,  Avas 
united  with  Haiti,  and  the  State  thus  constituted  was  called, 
the  Republic  of  Haiti.  But  Santo  Domingo  revolted  in  1844, 
and  from  this  time  on  the  two  portions  of  the  island  had  each 
its  separate  government. 

But  even  under  these  adverse  conditions  the  blacks  of  Haiti 
found  freedom  a  stimulus  to  growth.  They  have  not  learned 
to  appreciate  the  full  responsibilities  of  self-government,  for 
nearly  all  their  rulers  have  been  assassinated  or  driven  out  of 
the  country.  But  they  have  retained  their  vigor  instead  of 
growing  indolent  and  degenerate,  and  they  have  acquired  some 
respect  for  law  and  some  appreciation  of  education.  Their 
present  Constitution,  which  was  drawn  up  in  1867,  has  many 
excellent  features ;  and,  if  its  provisions  could  be  enforced,  it 
would  give  the  country  an  enlightened  and  satisfactory  govern- 
ment. For  it  guarantees  freedoin  of  religious  worship,  trial  by 
jury,  and  entire  freedom  of  speech ;  it  makes  primary  educa- 
tion compulsory ;  and  it  provides  for  a  system  of  government 
which  Avould  make  the  country  a  true  republic  if  it  could  be 
established  and  maintained.  For  it  vests  the  executive  power 
in  a  President  who  is  to  be  elected  by  the  people,  and  the  leg- 
islative power  in  a  Senate  and  a  House  of  Representatives. 
The  Senate  is  to  be  composed  of  thirty-nine  members  who  are 
nominated  for  six  years  by  the  House  of  Representatives ;  the 
representatives  are  to  be  chosen  directly  for  three  years  by 
all  male  citizens  who  have  an  occupation.  In  many  respects, 
it  is  to  be  noticed,  the  Constitution  recognizes  French  usage 


544  UNCLASSIFIED    COUNTRIES  book  v 

and  customs,  the  legal  code  being  largely  borrowed  from  the 
Code  Napoleon,  and  the  country  being  divided,  like  France,  into 
departments,  arrondissements,  and  communes. 

Unfortunately,  the  country  has  not,  even  in  the  closing 
decade  of  the  century,  put  this  well-devised  scheme  of  govern- 
ment into  successful  operation.  Haiti  has  in  recent  years 
been  the  scene  of  sanguinary  warfare  between  opposing  fac- 
tions, and  has  attracted  attention  chiefly  by  its  feuds.  But  it 
is  now  quiet,  and  its  condition  is  fairly  prosperous.  Certainly 
it  may  be  said  that  the  negroes  of  Haiti  have  been  better  off 
since  they  gained  their  freedom  than  they  were  under  their 
French  masters;  and,  with  almost  everything  against  them, 
they  have  yet  kept  alive  a  rude  and  imperfect  civilization. 
That  they  are  capable  of  maintaining  a  republican  form  of 
government  may  well  be  doubted;  but  the  fact  that  they  have 
made  some  progress,  instead  of  retrograding  like  their  breth- 
ren in  Liberia,  entitles  them  to  the  respect  of  the  civilized 
world. 

The  population  of  Haiti  is  about  2,000,000,  and  its  area 
28,249  square  miles.  The  exports  of  the  country  consist  chiefly 
of  coffee,  cocoa,  cotton,  turtle  shells,  hides,  mahogany,  and  log- 
wood, and  have  a  yearly  value  of  about  $13,000,000. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  REPUBLIC  OF  SANTO  DOMINGO 

Although  the  French  obtained  possession  of  the  western 
portion  of  the  island  of  Santo  Domingo  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  the  eastern  portion  was  under  Spanish  control  until 
1785.  In  that  year  the  whole  island  was  ceded  to  France; 
but  in  1806,  after  the  French  had  been  driven  out  by  the 
negroes,  Spain  once  more  gained  possession  of  the  eastern  half 
and  retained  it  for  fifteen  years.  Even  through  the  period 
when  Mexico  and  South  America  were  struggling  for  inde- 
pendence Spain  maintained  her  authority  in  this  island 
Colony.  But  the  ultimate  success  of  the  revolutions  near  by 
at  last  made  the  Santo  Domingoans  discontented,  and  in  1821 
they,  too,  declared  themselves  independent.  At  first  they 
attached  themselves  to  the  newly  established  Republic  of 
Colombia  and  organized  their  own  government,  which  was 
also  republican  in  character,  under  its  flag  and  authority  ; 
but  they  soon  decided  to  unite  with  the  neighboring  state  in 
the  western  portion  of  the  island.  So  for  twenty  years  there 
was  but  one  government  in  the  whole  island  of  Santo  Do- 
mingo. 

This  union,  however,  was  not  a  natural  one.  The  Haitians 
are  blacks,  being  almost  entirely  of  African  descent,  and 
speak  the  French  language ;  the  Santo  Domingoans  are  mostly 
mulattoes  and  speak  Spanish,  though  French  and  English  are 
used  extensively  in  the  cities.  Accordingly,  the  Santo  Domin- 
goans grew  more  and  more  determined  to  work  out  their  own 
political  destiny ;  and  in  1844  they  revolted  and  set  up  their 
own  separate  government,  which  they  called  the  Republica 
Dominicana.  Ever  since  then  the  two  States  have  remained, 
not  only  separate,  but  hostile ;  and  so  frequently  do  they  wage 
war  upon  each  other  that  the  middle  portion  of  the  island, 
2n  545 


546  UNCLASSIFIED   COUNTRIES  book  v 

where  their  conflicts  occur,  has  remained  an  uninhabitable 
wild. 

The  independence  thus  secured  by  Santo  Domingo  was  not 
to  continue  unassailed,  for  the  Republic  was  forced  to  acknowl- 
edge Spain's  supremacy  in  18G1,  when  the  United  States  was 
prevented  by  civil  war  from  interfering.  But  the  Spanish 
usurpation  was  terminated  in  1865,  and  Santo  Domingo  has  ever 
since  maintained  its  independence.  In  1869  it  endeavored  to 
become  a  part  of  the  United  States,  but  the  Senate  of  that 
country  voted  against  annexation,  and  the  little  Republic  was 
obliged  to  struggle  on  alone. 

Santo  Domingo  has  great  agricultural  and  mineral  resources, 
but  lacks  the  energy  and  vigor  to  develop  them.  The  mulat- 
toes  of  the  country  are  intelligent  and  not  vicious,  but  they 
are  much  more  indolent  than  the  blacks  of  Haiti,  and  are  not 
on  the  road  to  prosperity  and  progress.  Both  the  Government 
and  the  people  seem  feeble  and  inefficient.  By  the  Constitu- 
tion the  executive  power  is  vested  in  a  President,  who  is 
chosen  for  four  years  by  an  electoral  college,  and  the  legisla- 
tive in  a  single  Chamber  of  twenty-two  deputies  who  are 
directly  elected  by  a  restricted  suffrage.  For  purposes  of  local 
administration  the  country  is  divided  into  ten  districts,  each 
of  which  is  under  a  governor  appointed  by  the  President. 
The  Roman  Catholic  religion  is  recognized  by  the  State,  and 
other  forms  of  worship  can  be  practised  only  under  certain 
restrictions.  Primary  education  is  by  statute  free  and  com- 
pulsory, and  higher  educational  institutions  have  been  estab- 
lished. Trade  languishes  on  account  of  the  customs  duties, 
which  are  excessively  high ;  but  the  exports  of  tobacco,  coffee, 
hard  woods,  and  other  articles  have  a  yearly  value  of  about 
$2,000,000,  and  the  national  income  is  usually  sufficient  to 
meet  the  expenditure.  The  population  of  the  country  is  about 
600,000,  and  its  area  is  a  little  more  than  18,000  square  miles. 


CHAPTER  IV 

JAPAN 

The  Japanese  are  probably  a  mixed  race.  Koreans,  Malays, 
and  other  surrounding  peoples  arc  supposed  to  have  made 
their  way  into  the  islands  that  compose  Japan,  and  to  have 
become  mingled  with  the  aboriginal  race.  This  race  may  at 
one  time  have  covered  the  whole  of  the  islands ;  but  it  was 
crowded  northward  by  an  invading  people  that  entered  from 
the  southwest,  and  its  descendants  are,  it  is  conjectured,  now 
represented  chiefly  by  the  Aino  tribes  of  Yezo.  The  invading 
race,  whatever  may  have  been  its  origin,  centred  about  Kioto, 
in  the  southwestern  part  of  the  island  of  Honshu,  and  built 
up  an  empire  whose  head  was  termed  the  Mikado.  Kioto  was 
the  Mikado's  home.  Surrounded  by  his  nobles  and  retainers, 
he  lived  there  in  a  simple  and  unpretentious  manner  and  grad- 
ually extended  his  power.  As  the  aborigines  or  savages  gave 
him  much  trouble,  he  was  obliged  to  exalt  the  military  class 
above  the  agricultural,  and  to  give  a  large  measure  of  authority 
to  the  Shogun,  or  general-in-chief.  By  the  end  of  the  eighth 
century  of  the  Christian  era  the  military  had  become  the 
dominating  class  in  the  Empire ;  and  from  that  time  on  its 
power  increased,  while  that  of  the  Mikado  seemed  to  wane. 
Almost  inevitably,  therefore,  the  time  came  when  the  general 
was  able  to  make  his  authority  supreme.  It  was  Yoritomo,  a 
man  of  great  energy  and  ability,  who  brought  about  the  change. 
In  1192  he  was  made  Shogun  by  the  Emperor  Takahu;  and 
from  that  time  on  until  1868  the  Shogunate  was  of  foremost 
importance  in  the  Empire.  By  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury it  had  lost  some  of  its  prestige;  but  its  power  was  re- 
stored by  lyeyasu  Tokugawa,  who  was  appointed  to  the  office 
in  160,3.  This  remarkable  man,  who  was  at  once  a  crafty  poli- 
tician and  a  skilful  general,  fixed  his  seat  of  government  at 

547 


548  UNCLASSIFIED   COUNTRIES  book  v 

Yedo,  at  the  mouth  of  the  rivers  which  drain  the  largest  plain 
in  Japan,  enlarged  and  strengthened  his  authority,  and  made 
the  office  of  Sliogun  hereditary  in  his  family. 

Under  his  successors  Yedo  became  a  great  and  populous 
city,  and  the  power  of  the  Tokugawa  dynasty  quite  over- 
shadowed that  of  the  Mikado.  The  latter  still  maintained 
his  court  at  Kioto  and  invested  each  Shogun  in  office ;  but, 
though  nominally  the  sovereign  of  Japan,  he  never  assumed 
the  direct  control  of  affairs.  Hence  the  Shoguns  of  the  Toku- 
gawa  line  found  it  easy  to  consolidate  their  power.  lyeyasu 
himself  had  introduced  the  feudal  system  in  Japan;  his  suc- 
cessors gradually  and  adroitly  extended  it,  until  the  nobles 
were  feudal  vassals  and  the  whole  country  was  divided  into 
fiefs.  These  fiefs,  which  were  sometimes  of  considerable  extent, 
were  despotically  ruled  by  the  nobles,  who  treated  the  peasants 
as  serfs  and  frequently  subjected  them  to  galling  taxation.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  members  of  the  military  class  received 
many  privileges,  and  were  allowed  to  wear  two  swords  as  a 
mark  of  distinction. 

This  was  the  system  that  prevailed  in  Japan  during  the  first 
half  of  the  nineteenth  century.  It  was  not  altogether  a  per- 
nicious system,  for  it  gave  Japan  two  hundred  and  fifty  years 
of  peace  and  moderate  prosperity.  But  it  was  doomed  to 
extinction,  for  the  people  were  growing  restless  under  its 
exasperating  restrictions.  While  it  lasted,  Japan  was  cut 
off  from  communication  with  other  nations,  for  the  policy 
of  the  Shogunate  was  one  of  utter  isolation  and  seclusion. 
Foreigners  were  kept  out  of  the  country,  new  ideas  were  not 
allowed  to  take  root,  and  the  people  were  placed  under  a 
despicable  system  of  espionage.  But  in  thus  declining  to 
share  the  growth  of  the  nineteenth  century,  the  Shogunate 
brought  about  its  own  destruction.  Its  power  was  on  the 
decline,  and  the  Japanese  only  needed  the  stimulus  of  foreign 
intercourse  to  emancipate  themselves  from  this  deadening  and 
repressive  rule. 

Consequently,  the  advent  of  Commodore  Perry  and  his 
squadron  in  1853  was  not  unwelcome  to  the  more  enlightened 
portion  of  the  Shogun's  subjects.  The  Shogun  himself  did  not 
venture  to  repulse  the  representative  of  so  formidable  a  power ; 
and  though  Commodore  Perry  remained  at  the  Japanese  court 


CHAP.  IV 


JAPAN  649 


only  a  few  days,  the  result  of  his  visit  was  a  commercial  alli- 
ance between  Japan  and  the  United  States,  concluded  on 
March  31,  1854.  Seeing  how  easily  the  Shogunate  had  been 
forced  to  abandon  its  policy  of  exclusion,  other  nations  fol- 
lowed the  example  of  the  United  States,  until  sixteen  had 
gained  like  privileges. 

Thus  Japan  was  brought  once  more  within  the  pale  of  the 
nations,  and  the  fall  of  feudalism  was  made  inevitable.  For 
the  action  of  the  Shogun  in  opening  the  country  to  foreigners 
was  distasteful  to  the  Mikado  and  his  adherents,  and  soon 
brought  about  a  deadly  warfare  between  the  court  at  Kioto 
and  that  at  Yedo.  As  the  daimios,  or  nobles,  were  quite  gen- 
erally opposed  to  foreign  intercourse,  the  Mikado  used  this 
hostility  to  the  Shogun  to  strengthen  his  own  power.  For 
centuries  his  predecessors  had  been  subservient  to  the  Shogun- 
ate ;  but  he  determined  to  reassert  the  imperial  dignity  and 
make  himself  the  centre  of  authority  and  influence.  Hence, 
his  followers  began  to  oppose  the  Shogun  both  secretly  and 
openly,  even  resorting  to  the  policy  of  assassinating  his  adhe- 
rents that  they  might  thus  deprive  him  of  support.  Very 
soon,  therefore,  the  Shogun  found  his  position  an  uncomfor- 
table one.  For  the  great  nobles  carried  their  opposition  to 
foreigners  so  far  that  they  did  not  hesitate  to  inflict  outrages 
upon  the  vessels  of  America  and  other  nations.  These  out- 
rages the  Shogun  was  unable  to  stop,  for  the  rebellious  nobles 
were  strong  enough  to  defy  his  authority.  Two  of  them,  the 
Prince  of  Nagato  and  the  Prince  of  Satsuma,  were  especially 
bold  and  insolent;  and  the  damage  they  inflicted  upon  un- 
armed vessels  was  so  serious  that  it  became  necessary  to  sub- 
jugate them  by  force.  The  former  was  temporarily  brought 
to  terms  by  a  squadron  of  English,  French,  and  American  ves- 
sels, which  bombarded  his  forts,  July  15  to  19,  1863.  But  the 
Prince  of  Satsuma  proved  a  more  stubborn  antagonist.  Ad- 
miral Kuper  of  the  British  navy  was  directed  to  subdue  him, 
and  proceeded  with  his  fleet  to  the  bay  of  Kagoshima  in  the 
island  of  Kiusiu,  where  the  Prince  had  a  castle  and  other 
strong  fortifications.  As  the  Japanese  had  no  thought  of 
submitting  to  a  mere  display  of  force,  the  Prince's  strongholds 
were  bombarded  by  the  English  vessels  on  August  15  and  16, 
1863,  and  were  almost  entirely  destroyed.     The  loss  of  prop- 


550  rXCLASSIFIED   C(H'XTRIES  book  t 


erty  was  estimated  at  ^5,000,000  and  about  fifteen  hundred  of 
the  Prince's  followers  were  killed  and  wounded. 

Cowed  bv  this  severe  experience,  the  Prince  of  Satsunia 
ceased  to  annoy  the  vessels  of  other  nations,  but  the  anti- 
foreign  party  in  Japan  only  gained  in  strength  as  a  result  of 
these  hostilities,  and  the  Prince  of  Xagato  was  inspired  to 
commit  further  outrages.  jNIoreover,  the  Shogun's  government 
refused  to  fulfil  its  treaty  obligations,  and  it  therefore  became 
necessary  for  the  powers  that  had  interests  in  Japan  to  over- 
awe the  Government  by  a  display  of  force.  Accordingly,  an 
allied  fleet,  which  represented  Great  Britain,  France,  and 
America,  sailed  in  September.  1S64.  to  the  Straits  of  Shimono- 
seki  and  attacked  the  Prince  of  Xagato's  forts.  The  forts 
returned  the  enemy's  fire,  hut  they  were  silenced  after  a 
spirited  action  which  lasted  for  two  days  (September  5  and  6), 
and  the  Prince  of  Nagato  granted  all  that  was  demanded  by 
the  powers.  He  agreed  to  open  the  Straits  of  Shimonoseki  to 
foreiacn  commerce  and  to  treat  foreigners  civillv ;  and  he  even 
offered  to  open  the  ports  upon  his  own  territory  for  trade. 

From  this  time  on  Japan  fulfilled  its  treaty  obligations  and 
placed  no  serious  obstructions  in  the  way  of  foreign  inter- 
course. But  the  Shogunate  lost  its  prestige  in  this  conflict  with 
the  powers,  and  the  day  of  its  downfall  rapidly  drcAv  near.  It 
had  indeed  shown  itself  weak  and  inetficient.  First  assuming 
relations  with  other  nations,  it  tried  to  terminate  them  when 
they  roused  the  antagonism  of  the  ]\Iikado  and  the  nobles; 
but  it  left  the  nobles  to  do  the  actual  fighting,  and,  when  they 
were  subdued,  its  own  resistance  came  promptly  to  an  end. 
Hence  the  Mikado's  party  grew  in  strength  and  favor,  till  it 
was  able  to  set  the  Shogunate  aside.  This  did  not  happen 
immediately  after  the  close  of  the  conflict  with  the  powers. 
Even  when  the  Shogun  died,  in  18G6,  his  successor  assumed 
the  functions  of  oflice  and  maintained  his  Government  at  Yedo 
for  nearly  two  years ;  for  the  Mikado,  who  was  born  in  lSo2, 
was  too  young  at  this  time  to  be  more  than  the  nominal  head 
of  the  Empire.  But  in  1868  the  daimios  rose  in  open  rebellion 
against  the  Shogunate,  and  after  several  months  of  warfare 
they  succeeded  in  establishing  the  Mikado  as  the  sole  reigning 
power  in  Japan.  In  Xovember  of  this  year  he  was  proclaimed 
to  be  of  age. 


CHAP.  IV  JAPAN  051 

It  was  not  as  the  champions  of  progress,  but  rather  as  reac- 
tionaries, that  the  Mikado  and  his  party  had  gained  control  of 
his  affairs,  but  the  force  of  circumstances  soon  led  them  to 
adopt  more  liberal  views.  It  became  apparent  to  all  that 
Japan  could  not  long  remain  isolated  from  the  world  and 
enslaved  by  the  traditions  of  the  past. 

Therefore  an  era  of  progress  now  began,  and  those  political 
ideas  which  had  been  effecting  revolutions  all  over  the  world 
began  to  take  root  in  Japan. 

As  a  first  step  toward  a  more  enlightened  policy  the  Mikado 
moved  his  court  from  Kioto,  where  his  predecessors  had  lived 
in  seclusion  for  so  many  centuries,  and  made  Yedo  his  cajjital. 
Its  name,  however,  was  changed  to  Tokio,  that  it  might  not  be 
a  reminder  of  the  days  of  the  Shogunate.  This  step  taken, 
new  life  seemed  to  enter  the  nation,  and  both  foreign  and 
domestic  affairs  were  managed  with  energy  and  vigor.  In 
1874  the  Government  sent  an  expedition  to  Formosa  to  punish 
jjiracy,  and  in  1879  it  annexed  the  Liu-Kiu  Islands  in  despite 
of  China's  remonstrances  and  threats.  Korea  was  also  made 
to  feel  the  strong  hand  of  Japan ;  for  when  it  violated  its  con- 
vention with  the  Japanese  Government  in  1875  and  fired  upon 
a  Japanese  gunboat,  a  high  commissioner  was  sent  into  the 
country  from  Japan,  and  the  Koreans  were  compelled  to  grant 
new  and  important  concessions.  Again,  in  1882,  Japan  pre- 
pared to  make  war  upon  Korea,  because  eleven  members  of 
the  Japanese  legation  Avere  killed  there  in  an  anti-foreign 
insurrection.  But  this  show  of  force  was  sufficient  to  bring 
Korea  to  terms,  and,  receiving  such  compensation  as  they 
demanded,  the  Japanese  abandoned  hostilities. 

Even  in  Japan  itself  the  Government  found  it  necessary  to 
assert  its  strength,  for  in  1877  several  of  the  clans  rose  against 
the  Ministry,  and  for  some  months  maintained  their  defiant 
attitude.  But  they  were  finally  suppressed,  and  with  the 
establishment  of  order  came  the  introduction  of  many  reforms. 
The  postal  system  was  developed,  lighthouses  were  erected, 
railways  were  put  in  operation,  and  a  new  criminal  code  Avas 
enforced.  Education  received  special  attention  from  the  Gov- 
ernment, which  established  a  large  numVjer  of  primary  schools 
and  made  attendance  compulsory,  while  all  the  ports  of  the 
country  were   thrown  open  to  foreign  trade,  and  freedom  of 


552  UNCLASSIFIED   COUNTRIES  book  v 

worship  was  granted  to  all  religions.  Nor  were  military- 
matters  neglected ;  for  a  conscription  law  was  passed  in  1882, 
the  army  was  reorganized,  the  navy  strengthened,  and  an 
excellent  scheme  of  coast  defence  was  planned  and  execvited. 
The  whole  nation  seemed  to  be  animated  by  the  spirit  of  prog- 
ress, and  these  manifold  reforms,  which  brought  Japan  into 
touch  with  Europe  and  America,  created  a  desire  for  demo- 
cratic institutions.  Accordingly,  on  February  11,  1889,  the 
Mikado  promulgated  a  new  Constitution,  which  established 
two  parliamentary  Houses,  the  Lords  and  the  Commons,  and 
guaranteed  full  civil  and  religious  liberty. 

With  the  promulgation  of  this  Constitution  the  first  period 
in  the  history  of  modern  Japan  may  be  considered  to  end. 
It  was  a  period  of  national  awakening.  The  people  suddenly 
threw  off  mediaeval  habits  of  mind,  and  looked  to  the  advanced 
nations  of  the  world  for  instruction  and  inspiration.  Their 
university  at  Tokio  employed  scholars  from  abroad  and  pub- 
lished scientific  works  in  English.  Japanese  students  resorted 
to  the  great  universities  of  England  and  America.  Alpha- 
betical writing  was  gradually  adopted  in  place  of  ideographic, 
and  even  in  matters  of  dress  the  Japanese  began  to  borrow  the 
ways  and  habits  of  W  estern  civilization.  Indeed,  so  rapid  and 
quiet  was  the  nation's  advance  that  the  period  has  been  termed 
"  Meiji,"  Enlightened  Peace. 

A  more  turbulent  and  exciting  period  was  to  follow  this 
orderly  epoch.  During  the  last  decade  of  the  century  Japan 
had  to  face  war  and  to  experience  profound  and  significant 
political  changes.  It  was  now  that  the  progress  of  the  pre- 
ceding decades  bore  its  full  fruitage  and  gave  Japan  a  place 
among  the  vigorous  nations  of  the  world.  Eor  this  island 
country  was  now  to  show  that  its  armed  strength  was  formida- 
ble, and  that  in  its  political  development  it  would  not  stop 
short  of  government  by  and  for  the  people. 

It  Avas  in  Korea,  where  Japan  had  formerly  experienced 
trouble,  that  a  cause  for  war  was  found.  For  a  formidable 
insurrection  against  the  King's  government  occurred  in  that 
country  in  1894,  and  troops  were  sent  there  from  Japan  to 
protect  the  Japanese  legation  and  consulates.  At  the  same 
time  the  King  of  Korea,  who  acknowledged  the  suzerainty  of 
China,  applied  to   the  Chinese   Emjaeror   for   assistance,  and 


CHAP.   IV 


JAPAN  553 


Chinese  troops  were  accordingly  sent  to  his  support.  This  was 
a  situation  that  invited  disturbance ;  but  trouble  might  have 
been  avoided  if  the  suggestions  of  Japan  had  been  adopted. 
For  the  Japanese  Government  proposed  that  China  and  Japan 
should  together  reform  the  internal  administration  of  Korea, 
and  prevent  further  uprisings  against  the  King.  But  China 
declined  to  cooperate  toward  this  end,  the  Emperor  declaring 
that  the  traditional  policy  of  his  country  would  not  allow  him 
to  interfere  with  the  internal  affairs  of  a  vassal  state.  More- 
over, the  King  of  Korea  proved  obdurate,  for  he  refused  to 
carry  out  any  reforms  unless  the  Japanese  troops  were  with- 
drawn from  his  domains.  As  Japan  would  not  accede  to  this 
proposition,  the  troops  of  the  two  nations  remained  in  Korea 
in  dangerous  proximity,  and  only  a  spark  was  needed  to  kindle 
the  smouldering  embers  of  hostility  into  the  conflagration  of 
war. 

Toward  the  end  of  June,  1894,  the  spark  was  lighted  and 
war  came.  For  the  troops  of  the  two  nations  came  into 
collision  on  land,  and  on  the  sea  a  Chinese  transport  vessel  con- 
taining 1500  soldiers  was  sunk  by  Japanese  warships.  In 
consequence  of  these  actions  war  was  immediately  declared, 
and  the  progressive  island  State  with  its  40,000,000  people 
found  itself  engaged  in  deadly  conflict  with  the  oldest  civil- 
ized power  in  the  world.  As  China  had  a  population  of  probably 
400,000,000,  its  resources  were  supposed  to  be  inexhaustible, 
and  the  ultimate  defeat  of  Japan  was  widely  predicted.  But 
it  soon  became  apparent  that  the  Chinese  Empire  had  little 
strength  or  solidity.  Many  portions  of  it  gave  the  Emperor 
but  a  nominal  allegiance,  and,  semi-barbarous  as  they  were, 
were  not  able  to  supply  the  army  with  disciplined  and  well- 
armed  troops.  Accordingly,  the  forces  which  the  Emperor 
could  put  in  the  held  were  not  even  superior  to  those  of  Japan 
in  point  of  numbers,  and  in  equipment,  training,  and  fighting 
strength  were  decidedly  inferior.  To  the  surprise  of  the 
world,  therefore,  Japan  was  victorious  on  land  from  the  very 
beginning  of  the  war,  and  on  the  sea  she  also  vanquished  her 
antagonist,  though  not  without  severe  and  bloody  conflicts. 
The  battle  off  the  Yalu  River  on  September  17  was  fiercely 
contested,  and,  though  four  Chinese  warships  were  sunk  out- 
right, three   of   the   Japanese   vessels   were   badly  damaged. 


554  UNCLASSIFIED   COUNTRIES  book  v 

Later  in  the  year  the  remainder  of  the  Chinese  fleet  was 
hemmed  in  at  Port  Arthur  by  the  Japanese  ships,  and  on 
February  7,  1895,  its  commander,  Admiral  Ting,  was  forced  to 
surrender,  after  losing  two  of  his  vessels.  As  the  Japanese 
continued  to  be  almost  uniformly  victorious  on  land,  China 
found  it  useless  to  prolong  the  struggle,  and  a  treaty  of  peace 
was  signed  on  April  17,  and  ratified  by  the  Emperor  on  the 
4th  of  the  following  month.  By  the  terms  of  the  treaty 
China  was  to  surrender  the  Liao-tung  peninsula  with  Port 
Arthur  to  her  victorious  rival,  but  this  advantage  Japan  was 
obliged  to  forego  on  account  of  the  objections  that  were  urged 
by  Russia,  Germany,  and  France.  But  she  acquired  Formosa 
and  the  Pescadores  Islands,  and  compelled  China  to  pay  a 
large  war  indemnity  and  grant  a  new  commercial  treaty. 
Korea  also  profited  by  the  war,  for  it  was  now  made  entirely 
independent  of  the  Chinese  Empire. 

That  the  results  of  the  war  were  not  wholly  beneficial  to 
Japan  the  sequel  was  to  show,  but  the  concessions  which  China 
made  brought  some  substantial  advantages.  For  new  ports 
were  thrown  open  to  Japan  by  the  revised  commercial  treaty, 
and  Japanese  steam  vessels  were  now  allowed  to  navigate  the 
Upper  Yangtse-Kiang  and  Woosung  rivers.  From  its  fierce 
conflict,  moreover,  the  nation  derived  important  gains  that 
were  not  of  a  material  character ;  for  it  now  felt  a  new  sense 
of  power,  a  greater  self-confidence,  and  a  strong  craving  for 
further  progress.  Japan  now  counted  itself  one  of  the  vigor- 
ous and  growing  powers  of  the  world,  and  it  was  anxious  to 
put  itself  on  an  entire  equality  with  other  nations.  Even 
before  the  war  a  number  of  reforms  were  under  consideration, 
and  some  attempts  had  been  made  to  carry  them  into  eifect. 
In  particular,  new  treaties  were  arranged  with  Great  Britain, 
the  United  States,  and  other  countries,  though  they  were  not 
to  become  immediately  operative.  But,  while  the  war  lasted, 
the  energy  of  the  nation  was  directed  toward  military  opera- 
tions, and  domestic  legislation  was  comparatively  neglected. 

But  when  the  war  had  been  brought  to  a  victorious  issue,  the 
needed  reforms  were  loudly  advocated.  The  question  of  local 
self-government  was  one  of  the  first  to  receive  attention,  and 
was  solved  in  a  manner  suggested  by  the  experiences  of  demo- 
cratic countries.      For  the  Empire  was  divided  into  forty-six 


CHAP.  IV  JAPAN  555 

districts,  each  of  which  had  its  own  governor  and  its  own 
elected  assembly.  But  a  more  important  question  than  that 
of  local  administration  was  that  of  responsible  party  govern- 
ment. When  the  new  Constitution  was  adopted  in  1889,  Japan 
ceased  to  be  an  absolute  monarchy ;  but  absolute  and  despotic 
ideas  of  rule  were  not  at  once  discarded  by  the  Emperor  and 
his  immediate  supporters.  Like  the  King  of  Holland,  the 
Emperor  refused  to  recognize  that  the  majority  in  a  Parlia- 
ment had  a  right  to  control  the  administration  of  affairs,  and 
he  therefore  persisted  in  upholding  the  Prime  Minister  of  his 
choice  in  spite  of  adverse  votes  in  the  House  of  Eepresenta- 
tives.  It  was  to  the  statesmen  of  the  powerful  Satsuma  and 
Chosen  clans  that  the  government  was  intrusted ;  but  the  rival 
Hizen  and  Tosa  clans  commanded  a  large  majority  in  the 
national  Diet.  If  the  representatives  of  these  two  clans  could 
have  worked  together  consistently  against  the  Government, 
they  would  very  soon  have  become  masters  of  the  situation. 
But  this  combination  they  found  it  difficult  to  make,  for  they 
represented  two  different  political  parties.  The  members  of 
the  Hizen  clan  counted  themselves  Progressives,  and  were  under 
the  leadership  of  Count  Okuma ;  those  of  the  Tosa  clan  were 
led  by  Count  Itagaki  and  called  themselves  Liberals.  Both 
the  Progressives  and  the  Liberals  believed  in  party  govern- 
ment; but,  instead  of  making  this  the  dominant  political  issue 
and  cooperating  to  insure  its  triumph,  they  each  looked  for 
advancement  and  for  advantageous  political  alliances.  In  No- 
vember, 1895,  the  Liberals  gave  their  support  to  Marquis  Ito, 
the  head  of  the  Cabinet,  and  their  leader.  Count  Itagaki, 
was  accordingly  admitted  to  a  Cabinet  position.  But  this  action 
of  the  Liberals  caused  all  the  opponents  of  the  Government  to 
combine  against  it,  and  so  formidable  did  this  opposition  prove 
that  it  forced  the  resignation  of  the  Cabinet  in  August,  1896, 
the  Marquis  Ito  and  his  ministers  having  become  unpopular 
through  lack  of  decision  in  dealing  with  affairs  in  Korea  and 
Formosa.  The  opposition,  therefore,  now  came  into  power, 
and  in  the  new  Cabinet,  which  was  formed  by  Count  Matsu- 
gata.  Count  Okuma,  the  Progressive  leader,  received  a  place. 
But  the  new  Ministry  was  not  in  the  end  more  successful  than 
its  predecessor  had  been.  Abandoning  the  cause  of  party 
government  which   it   had   zealously  advocated,  it   strove   to 


556  UNCLASSIFIED   COUNTRIES  book  v 

maintain  itself  in  power  through  unprincipled  alliances  and  a 
free  use  of  the  spoils  system.  But  in  spite  of  its  efforts  it  was 
overthrown,  and  in  January,  1898,  the  Marquis  Ito  returned  to 
power. 

These  political  changes  had  made  it  apparent  to  the  Lib- 
erals and  Progressives  that  they  must  unite  if  they  would 
make  themselves  the  dominant  force  in  the  politics  of  the 
country,  and  secure  the  triumph  of  the  principle  of  party  gov- 
ernment. Moreover,  a  special  reason  for  such  cooperation  was 
soon  afforded ;  for  the  Marquis  Ito,  who  had  not  attempted  to 
strengthen  his  administration  by  a  coalition,  was  defeated  in 
June,  1898,  and  the  House  of  Representatives  was  dissolved. 
Accordingly,  the  Liberals  and  Progressives  now  joined  their 
forces,^  and  the  Marquis  Ito,  seeing  the  uselessness  of  contend- 
ing against  such  a  powerful  combination,  resigned  his  office 
and  recommended  the  Emperor  to  recognize  the  principle  of 
party  government  and  to  intrust  the  task  of  forming  a  new 
Cabinet  to  Count  Okuma  and  Count  Itagaki.  This  advice  the 
Emperor  followed.  Count  Okuma  was  made  Premier  on  June 
28,  1898,  and  the  cause  of  party  government,  which  for  nearly 
ten  years  had  been  struggling  for  recognition,  seemed  at  last  to 
have  triumphed. 

But  its  triumph  proved  to  be  of  short  duration.  The  new 
party,  composed  chiefly  of  Liberals  and  Progressives,  adoj)ted 
a  platform  in  which  it  promised  to  support  the  popular 
demands  for  moderate  taxation,  the  maintenance  of  the  Em- 
peror's authority  and  of  the  Constitution,  the  development 
of  commerce  and  industry,  and  a  peaceful  foreign  policy. 
Moreover,  the  platform  distinctly  stated  that  the  Cabinet 
should  represent  the  majority  in  the  Lower  House.  But  hardly 
had  the  Ministry  begun  to  carry  out  this  liberal  programme 
before  it  encountered  serious  difficulties.  It  found  itself 
called  upon  to  oppose  the  spoils  system,  which  had  gained  an 
unfortunate  hold  upon  the  minds  of  the  Japanese  politicians, 
and  its  own  members  soon  showed  a  lack  of  harmony,  the 
Liberals  and  the  Progressives  both  standing  jealously  upon 
their  rights.  This  jealous  feeling  mauifested  itself  when  it 
became  necessary  to  appoint  a  new  Minister  of  Education  in 

1  The  party  formed  by  this  fusion  was  called  Kiusei-to,  or  Constitutional 
party. 


CHAP.  IV  JAPAN  557 

the  following  October.  M.  Ozaki,  who  had  been  in  charge  of 
this  bureau,  was  obliged  to  resign,  because  he  had  indiscreetly 
suggested  that  Japan  might  become  a  Republic.  Thereupon 
Count  Itagaki  demanded  that  his  place  be  filled  by  a  Liberal ; 
but  Count  Okuma  went  secretly  to  the  Emperor  and  secured 
the  appointment  of  M.  Inukai,  a  member  of  his  own  party. 
Over  this  incident  dissension  at  once  arose  in  the  Cabinet,  and 
the  disagreement  was  made  greater  by  the  financial  situation. 
For  it  was  necessary  to  increase  the  revenue,  and  the  Liberals 
believed  that  this  should  be  accomplished  by  a  land  tax, 
while  the  Progressives  were  opposed  to  such  a  measure  and 
demanded  that  an  additional  tax  should  be  placed  on  incomes, 
drugs,  and  spirits.  So  fierce  did  the  dispute  become  that  the 
Government  lost  all  prestige  and  influence,  and  a  new  adminis- 
tration became  necessary.  On  October  31  the  ministers  all 
tendered  their  resignations,  and  a  new  Cabinet,  independent  of 
parties,  was  formed  by  the  Marquis  Yamagata.  Under  his  leader- 
ship the  land  tax  was  carried,  though  the  Progressives  still 
fought  it  bitterly,  and  left  the  House  in  a  body  when  they  saw 
that  they  were  to  be  outvoted.  Thus  the  first  attempt  at  party 
government  ended  in  failure,  as  might,  indeed,  have  been  an- 
ticipated by  all  who  understood  the  conditions  under  which  it 
was  tried.  Japan  has  outgrown  feudal  institutions,  but  it  has 
not  utterly  cast  off  the  feudal  spirit.  For  many  centuries  the 
great  clans  have  exercised  a  powerful  and  commanding  influ- 
ence over  their  retainers,  and  not  all  at  once  could  the  clansmen 
make  personal  loyalty  subservient  to  political  principle.  The 
coalition  of  the  Liberals  and  the  Progressives  ended  in  disaster, 
because  those  who  composed  it  could  not  put  away  personal 
ends  and  petty  ambitions  for  the  sake  of  the  larger  cause  to 
which  they  were  pledged  by  their  political  platform.  They 
regarded  it  as  the  politician  in  the  United  States  regards  finan- 
cial reform  and  many  desirable  measures  that  do  not  bring 
promotion  or  emolument.  Not  by  coalitions  and  combinations, 
therefore,  will  party  government  succeed  in  Japan,  but  by 
securing  the  uncompromising  adherence  of  the  statesmen  and 
voters  of  the  nation.^ 

This  parliamentary  failure  was  to  some  extent  atoned  for 

1  For  an  acoount  of  this  interestiiitj  jjolitical  experiment,  consult  "Parlia- 
mentary Government  in  Japan,"  in  the  Xineteoith  Centunj  for  July,  IX'.H). 


558  UNCLASSIFIED   COUNTRIES  book  v 

ill  the  following  year  by  a  gain  in  national  dignity  and  by 
increased  opportunities  for  trade.  For  on  July  17,  1899,  most 
of  the  commercial  treaties  which  had  been  formed  in  1891 
became  operative,  and  gave  Japan  new  privileges,  new  influ- 
ence, and  new  facilities  for  commercial  groAvth  and  expansion. 
The  old  treaties,  which  had  been  negotiated  before  Japan  had 
gained  the  respect  of  the  world,  were  indeed  most  unsatisfac- 
tory both  to  foreigners  and  to  the  Japanese  themselves.  For 
they  stipulated  that  foreign  residents  in  Japan  should  be  con- 
fined to  certain  open  ports,  outside  of  which  they  could  not 
reside,  own  property,  or  engage  in  trade ;  and  also  that  they 
should  be  amenable  to  the  consul  of  their  own  country  and 
should  not  be  under  Japanese  jurisdiction.  As  a  result  of 
this  system  there  were  more  than  a  dozen  different  courts  in 
Japan  before  which  foreigners  who  had  committed  offences 
were  brought  for  trial ;  and  even  the  quarantine  laws,  which 
the  Japanese  Government  passed  from  time  to  time  for  the 
protection  of  its  subjects,  were  for  the  most  part  ignored  by 
other  powers.  Moreover,  the  foreign  residents  paid  no  taxes 
in  Japan,  as  they  considered  that  the  country  in  which  they 
lived  and  enjoyed  special  privileges  had  no  authority  over 
them.  But  under  the  new  treaties  these  inequalities  and  in- 
justices disappeared.  The  United  States,  Great  Britain,  and 
all  the  leading  nations  of  continental  Europe  had  formed 
treaties  with  Japan  which  put  their  own  subjects  who  lived 
in  that  country  on  the  same  footing  as  the  Japanese  them- 
selves. Hence,  from  this  time  on  foreigners  had  the  same 
privileges  and  the  same  obligations  as  Japanese  citizens. 
They  could  no  longer  escape  taxation,  but  they  enjoyed  new 
advantages  in  that  the  entire  interior  of  Japan  was  now  open 
to  them  for  residence  and  trade. 

Altogether,  Japan  has  made  remarkable  gains  since  the 
overthrow  of  the  Shogunate,  but  her  national  career  has  not 
been  one  of  uninterrupted  progress.  Political  reforms  have 
not  been  accomplished  without  serious  difficulty,  and  the 
spoilsman  and  the  adventurer  still  stand  in  the  way  of  an 
honest  administration  of  affairs.  New  problems,  moreover, 
are  continually  arising  to  tax  the  resources  of  the  nation's 
statesmen.  Formosa  has  not  proved  an  unmixed  gain  to  the 
country,  for  it  is  a  difficult  country  to  subjugate   and  hold; 


CHAP.  IV  JAPAN  559 

nor  was  the  stimulus  derived  from  the  war  with  China  alto- 
gether an  advantage.  Flushed  with  military  success,  Japan 
negotiated  foreign  loans  and  expended  large  sums  in  increas- 
ing her  armament ;  and  yet  found  to  her  humiliation  that  the 
great  powers  would  not  consult  her  in  settling  the  questions 
of  the  far  East.  Through  these  unwise  expenditures  the 
country  became  financially  embarrassed,  and  in  1899  a  panic 
seemed  imminent.  Taxation  was  oppressive,  industries  lan- 
guished, and  the  new  commercial  treaties  could  not  at  once 
bring  relief.  The  history  of  tlie  past  few  decades  warrants 
the  belief  that  the  nation  will  find  a  way  out  of  its  difiiculties 
and  will  have  a  great  and  brilliant  future.  But  strange  are 
the  vicissitudes  of  history,  and  who  can  say  what  the  twentieth 
century  will  bring  forth  for  this  interesting  island  Empire  ? 

Japan  is  made  up  of  those  islands  which  compose  the  archi- 
pelago of  Niplion.  Four  large  islands  belong  to  the  archipelago, 
Yezo,  Honshu,  Kiushiu,  and  Shikoku;  and  Formosa  and  the 
Pescadores  Islands  are  also  included  in  it,  since  they  were 
ceded  to  Japan  by  China  in  1895.  Japan  ha.s  an  area  of 
150,000  square  miles  and  a  population  of  above  40,000,000. 
The  Constitution  adopted  in  1889  vests  the  executive  power  in 
the  Emperor  and  his  ministers,  and  gives  him  also  legislative 
power  so  far  as  may  be  sanctioned  by  the  Diet.  The  Diet, 
or  national  Parliament,  is,  like  the  legislatures  of  most  coun- 
tries that  have  constitutional  government,  composed  of  two 
Houses,  an  Upper  and  a  Lower.  The  Upper  House  is  termed 
the  House  of  Peers,  and  contains  two  distinct  classes  of  mem- 
bers :  (1)  Peers  elected  for  life,  and  (2)  Peers  elected  for  seven 
years.  The  life  Peers  include  male  members  of  tlie  imperial 
family,  princes  and  marquises  above  twenty-five  years  of  age, 
and  eminent  citizens  nominated  by  the  Emperor.  Of  the 
elected  Peers  there  are  two  classes,  chosen  in  two  entirely 
different  ways.  For  the  counts,  viscounts,  and  barons  of  the 
Empire  are  respectively  entitled  to  elect  one  fifth  of  their 
order,  though  the  ones  so  elected  must  be  above  twenty-five 
years  of  age,  while  the  various  districts  of  the  country  are 
represented  in  the  House  of  Peers  by  members  who  are  chosen 
indirectly  by  the  highest  taxpayers.  Altogether,  the  Peers 
number  about  three  hundred  members  who  are  elected  directly 


560  UNCLASSIFIED   COUNTRIES  book  v 

by  male  citizens  who  are  above  twenty-five  years  of  age,  who 
pay  a  national  tax  of  fifteen  yen  yearly,  and  who  have  resided 
in  their  districts  for  at  least  one  year.  The  annual  revenue  of 
Japan  is  about  $125,000,000  and  its  debt  is  a  little  less  than 
$400,000,000.  Its  financial  condition  may  be  considered  pros- 
perous in  spite  of  present  embarrassments,  for,  owing  to  the 
rapid  growth  of  its  manufacturing  industries,  its  imports  tend 
to  diminish  and  its  exports  to  increase. 


CHAPTER  V 

INDIA 

Not  having  received  a  Constitution,  India  cannot  be  classed 
with  those  British  Colonies  wliicli  are  experiencing  an  advanced 
political  development.  Yet  is  it  true  that  the  country  is  receiv- 
ing no  political  development  at  all  ?  An  Oriental  race,  keen, 
fanciful,  fiery,  watchful,  and  vindictive,  bows  before  the  supe- 
rior might  of  a  great  European  power,  and  from  that  power 
it  receives  daily  lessons  in  the  methods  of  establishing  order 
and  justice  throughout  a  vast  domain.  Does  it  profit  by  its 
lessons  and  is  it  acquiring  the  art  of  self-government?  Or 
is  it  so  bound  hand  and  foot  by  the  dominant  race  that  it  can 
only  chafe  and  revile  its  masters  even  while  it  renders  them 
obedience  ?  These  are  the  questions  that  suggest  themselves 
to  the  students  of  British  India,  and  they  are  not  easily  an- 
swered. It  would  be  impossible  to  answer  them  fully  in  this 
brief  survey,  but  some  thoughts  will  be  presented  that  may 
help  toward  a  solution. 

First  of  all,  it  is  necessary  to  consider  the  government  of 
India  and  see  how  far  it  recognizes  the  riglit  of  the  Hindus  to 
a  voice  in  the  management  of  their  own  affairs.  At  its  head 
is  the  Governor-General,  the  chief  executive  authority,  who 
represents  the  Crown.  Assisted  by  a  council  of  hve  or  six 
members  appointed  by  the  Crown,  he  makes  laws  for  all  per- 
sons in  the  country,  whether  they  be  British,  native,  or  foreign. 
The  actual  task  of  governing,  however,  falls  chiefly  upon  the 
Secretary  of  State,  who  is  assisted  by  a  council  of  not  less 
than  ten  members.  Over  all  those  portions  of  India  tliat  are 
strictly  British  territory  this  central  Government,  through  its 
own  appointed  officials,  exercises  direct  control.  But  there 
are  feudatory  States  which  are  governed  by  their  own  native 
princes,  ministers,  or  councils,  with  the  help  of  a  British  resi- 
2  o  561 


662  UNCLASSIFIED   COUNTRIES  book  v 

dent  official,  who  sees  that  the  native  heads  do  not  overstep 
certain  restrictions  by  which  Great  Britain's  suzerainty  is 
firmly  maintained.  Thus  it  appears  that  the  central  Govern- 
ment keeps  a  firm  hold  upon  the  whole  country,  while  it  gives 
to  the  native  princes  as  much  authority  as  they  can  safely  be 
allowed  to  exercise. 

But  in  local  affairs  and  in  the  administration  of  justice  the 
British  Government  gives  a  fuller  recognition  to  the  rights  of 
the  natives.  For  in  1882-84  Local  Self-Government  Acts  were 
passed,  which  have  so  extended  the  franchise  that  the  gov- 
erning bodies  of  the  towns  are  now  largely  made  up  of  native 
Hindus,  and  while  the  high  and  superior  courts  of  the  country 
are  in  English  hands,  the  magistrates  and  civil  judges  who 
exercise  jurisdiction  in  the  lower  courts  are  also  native  to  a 
very  considerable  extent. 

Thus  it  appears  that  Great  Britain  does  not  govern  its  vast 
Indian  dependency  despotically,  but  endeavors  to  educate 
the  Hindus  in  self-government  by  throwing  upon  them  the 
task  of  managing  their  own  local  affairs  and  of  controlling  the 
lower  and  simpler  processes  of  law  and  justice.  A  great 
change,  indeed,  has  been  effected  in  England's  policy  toward 
India  since  the  control  of  the  country  was  taken  from  the 
East  India  Company  in  1858.  "While  that  control  lasted,  this 
vast  and  rich  domain  was  governed  in  the  interests  of  a  few 
privileged  Englishmen.  Now,  however,  England's  treatment 
of  the  Hindus  is  so  liberal  that  the  following  characterization 
of  it  may  be  considered  fairly  correct :  ^  "  We  give  them  oppor- 
tunities for  local  self-government ;  we  open  to  them  appoint- 
ments in  the  Indian  Civil  Service,  and  place  on  them  all  the 
responsibility  they  can  bear.  We  do  not  expect  to  assimilate 
them  or  make  them  English;  we  offer  them  the  opportunity 
for  development  in  every  way  ;  we  only  deny  them  the  power 
to  oppress  and  misgovern  one  another." 

Consequently,  seeing  the  great  and  undoubted  benefits  of 
British  rule,  many  intelligent  and  fair-minded  Hindus  are  not 
discontented  under  this  alien  government.  They  believe  that 
it  must  sometime  cease,  but  consider  its  immediate  overthrow 
undesirable ;  and  they  uphold  it  with  hearty  and  ungrudging 
loyalty.     And  yet  the  country  is  full  of  malcontents,  and  the 

1  "English  Imperialism,"  by  William  Cunningham,  Atlantic  Monthly,  84:  1. 


CHAP.  V  INDIA  5(53 

British  are  as  fiercely  hated  by  some  as  they  are  cordially  sup- 
ported by  others.  Ever  and  anon  do  the  great  English  news- 
papers comment  upon  the  hostile  tone  of  the  native  press  in 
India,  and  intimate  that  it  should  be  placed  under  restrictions. 
And  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  Hindus  have  reason  to  dis- 
like the  foreign  yoke  they  bear.  For,  however  wisely  they  are 
governed,  the  fact  remains  that  they  are  not  their  own  masters, 
and  are  not  making  their  own  contribution  to  the  civilization 
and  progress  of  the  world.  Repressed  and  held  in  restraint 
by  a  stern  and  unsympathetic  regime,  they  have  lost  their 
spontaneity  and  their  natural  creative  impulse.  Their  fancy 
and  imagination  do  not  have  free  play.  Neither  art  nor  liter- 
ature is  greatly  enriched  by  their  ill-regulated  yet  undoubted 
mental  powers. 

The  truth  is,  the  English  are  by  nature  unfitted  to  Avin  the 
affections  of  a  fanciful  and  dreamy  Oriental  people.  For  the 
English  temper  is  arrogaiit,  hard,  stubborn,  practical,  and 
unimaginative.  Endowed  with  a  genius  for  government,  the 
Englishman  has  scant  respect  for  races  which  have  no  capacity 
for  politics  and  no  aptitude  for  progress.  Cynicism  is  his 
mental  attitude  toward  subject  peoples.  And  this  cynicism  is 
the  dominant  characteristic  in  his  dealings  with  the  Hindus. 
The  English  in  India  have  become  a  caste,  and  no  caste  was 
ever  more  narrow,  dogmatic,  and  intolerant.  They  have  their 
own  fixed  opinions  upon  Indian  affairs,  and  to  dispiite  the  cor- 
rectness of  them  is  to  excite  their  vindictive  resentment. 
They  do  not  brook  independence  of  thought.  They  persecute 
all  who  venture  to  contradict  thein.  And  yet  their  opinions 
are  not  only  incorrect  in  many  particulars,  but  are  antiquated 
and  perverse.  For  in  their  devotion  to  everything  Mohamme- 
dan they  even  uphold  the  Turk  in  his  wars  and  barbarities, 
and  they  hold  in  abhorrence  the  administration  of  Lord  Ripon, 
who  was  one  of  the  most  scrupulously  just  and  honorable  vice- 
roys that  India  ever  had.^ 

What,  then,  is  to  be  said  of  the  contact  of  these  two  incon- 
gruous races?  Is  India  really  benefiting  by  a  rule  which 
arouses  her  antipathy  ?  That  she  is  well  governed  cannot  be 
denied.     Law  and  order  reign  throughout  her  wide  domains  as 

1  Consult  "The  Auglo-Iiidiau  Creed"  in  the  Contemporary  Review  for 
August,  1899. 


564  UNCLASSIFIED   COUNTRIES  book  v 

they  never  could  have  reigned  through  the  efforts  of  her  native 
peoples.  And  from  such  an  efficient  and  well-ordered  rule  the 
Hindus  must  inevitably  acquire  new  standards  of  political  con- 
duct. But,  chafing  under  the  haughty  and  unbending  domin- 
ion of  a  people  whom  they  hate,  they  can  hardly  put  on  more 
than  a  veneer  of  civilization ;  and  their  longing  to  live  their 
own  life  seems  wholly  natural  and  justifiable. 


CHAPTER  VI 

SIAM 

In  the  year  1868  this  minor  Asiatic  State  passed  under  the 
sway  of  a  liberal  and  progressive  ruler,  King  Chulalongkorn. 
Unlike  the  typical  Asiatic  sovereign,  this  kindly  and  upright 
King  refused  to  be  bound  by  the  traditions  of  the  past,  and 
endeavored  to  improve  and  elevate  the  condition  of  his  sub- 
jects. He  was  by  no  means  hostile  to  the  spirit  of  Western 
civilization,  and,  as  opportunity  offered,  he  introduced  radical 
and  startling  innovations.  A  striking  proof  of  his  sympathy 
with  modern  ideas  was  his  abolition  of  the  custom  of  prostra- 
tion in  the  royal  presence.  For  his  subjects  were  allowed  to 
stand  erect  before  him  instead  of  lying  prone  at  his  feet.  He 
also  showed  appreciation  of  the  value  of  education,  and  by  his 
sanction  and  encouragement  a  college  for  princes  and  a  royal 
school  for  girls  Avere  established  in  ]?angkok  in  1893. 

But  the  closing  years  of  the  century  found  King  Chulalong- 
korn a  saddened  and  disappointed  man,  and  his  kingdom  not 
greatly  improved  because  of  his  enlightened  efforts.  He  had 
indeed  suffered  many  and  severe  discouragements.  Domestic 
bereavements  had  tried  him  sorely,  and  the  aggressions  of  the 
French  were  a  bitter  blow  to  his  pride.  For  in  1893  France 
forced  him  into  a  war  and  robbed  him  of  territory  that  con- 
tained over  a  hundred  thousand  square  miles  and  three  million 
inhabitants.  But  the  worst  obstacles  to  his  progress  as  a 
reforming  monarch  lay  in  himself  and  in  the  character  of  his 
country  and  his  people.  For  "  laisser-faire  is  essentially  engen- 
dered not  only  by  the  climate  but  by  the  religion  of  the  coun- 
try." ^  The  climate  during  the  greater  part  of  the  year  is  hot, 
stifling,  and  excessively  damp,  so  that  sustained  exertion  is 
almost  impossible.     And,  as  if  this  natural  condition  were  not 

1  Conteynporary  Revieiv,  71:884. 
565 


566  UNCLASSIFIED   COUNTRIES  book  v 

enough  to  destroy  enterprise,  the  Buddhist  religion  has  done 
its  utmost  to  create  apathy  and  indifference  to  all  things,  for 
it  prescribes  Nirvana  as  the  highest  happiness,  and  non-resist- 
ance as  the  highest  law  of  life.  Hence  the  atmosphere  that 
pervades  hovel  and  palace  alike  is  that  of  quietude  and  self- 
indulgence.  The  King  himself  has  not  been  able  to  escape  its 
vitiating  influence,  but  has  led  the  easy  and  pleasure-loving 
life  that  characterizes  the  Asiatic  potentate.  His  palace 
swarms  with  princes  who  grow  up  to  be  weaklings  and  who 
must  be  supported  in  indolence  by  the  State.  The  court, 
therefore,  is  by  no  means  a  centre  of  activity ;  and  the  King, 
though  he  has  autocratic  power,  has  not  the  energy  to  master 
the  details  of  administration.  Necessarily,  he  leaves  the 
actual  task  of  governing  very  largely  to  his  ministers,  and 
these  ministers  are  as  lethargic,  as  dilatory,  and  as  hostile  to 
innovations  as  the  Oriental  official  has  always  shown  himself 
from  ancient  times  to  the  present  day.  Moreover,  some  of 
them  are  exceedingly  corrupt,  and  what  they  do  to  forward 
new  enterprises  they  do  only  after  receiving  bribes. 

It  is  obvious,  then,  that  however  enlightened  and  progressive 
King  Chulalongkorn  may  be,  reforms  must  come  slowly  in  a 
country  so  buried  in  sloth  and  self-satisfaction.  And  of 
political  development  there  is  indeed  no  evidence.  Such 
changes  as  come  are  of  an  external  character  and  do  not  show 
any  awakening  of  the  people.  The  modern  inventions  have 
been  introduced ;  but,  although  the  King  approves  of  such 
signs  of  progress,  these  innovations  are  due  almost  entirely 
to  the  enterprise  of  foreign  residents.  It  is  the  busy  and 
restless  European  that  has  carried  the  typical  products  of 
Western  civilization  into  this  sleepy  Asiatic  State ;  and  to 
him  chiefly  was  it  due  that  in  1897  Siam  had  179  miles  of 
steam  railway,  J  780  miles  of  electric  telegraph  lines,  and  a 
number  of  electric  lighting  plants.  But  the  people  of  the 
country  look  Avitli  such  disapproval  upon  these  modern  con- 
veniences that  it  is  difficult  to  make  them  profitable  and  to 
extend  their  use ;  and  when  they  fall  under  native  manage- 
ment, as  happens  when  the  State  takes  them  under  its  con- 
trol, they  are  often  abandoned  through  sheer  indolence.^ 

1  Much  that  is  now  written  about  Siam  is  misleading,  as  it  gives  exag- 
gerated importance  to  the  reforms  and  improvements  which  the  King  and 


CHAP.  VI  SIAM  567 

Accordingly,  Siara  cannot  be  considered  progressive  in  the 
same  sense  in  which  that  word  is  applied  to  Japan.  It  is 
making  no  growth  toward  democracy ;  and  it  is  worthy  of 
study,  not  because  it  is  having  a  political  awakening,  but 
because  it  illustrates  the  difficulties  of  engrafting  Western 
institutions  upon  Asiatic  civilization.  Japan  actually  borrows 
and  assimilates  Western  ideas  and  politics ;  the  rest  of  Asia 
must  receive  its  growth  after  the  manner  of  Siberia,  India,  or 
Siam.  Through  conquest  or  through  commercial  enterprise 
these  vast  and  populous  districts,  with  their  dreamy  and 
languorous  life,  will  echo  with  the  hum  of  Western  industry, 
and  will  witness  the  inevitable  spread  of  Western  ideas.  But 
the  East  will  remain  unchanged  in  thought  and  temper,  even 
though  its  territory  is  invaded  on  every  hand.  Even  as  it  out- 
lived the  dominion  of  Macedon  and  Eome,^  it  will  resist  the 
encroachments  of  modern  civilization  with  passive  yet  indomi- 
table strength. 

others  have  attempted  to  introduce.  The  true  condition  of  affairs  and  the 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  progress  are  shown  in  Blackwood's  Mayazine,  159: 4()1 ; 
Contemporary  Review,  64:1;  and  the  article  in  the  Contemporary  (71:884) 
already  referred  to. 

1  The  brooding  East  with  awe  beheld 
Her  impious  younger  world. 
The  Roman  tempest  swell'd  and  swell'd, 
And  on  her  head  was  hurl'd. 

The  East  bow'd  low  before  the  blast 
In  patient,  deep  disdain  ; 
She  let  the  legions  thunder  past, 
And  plunged  in  thought  again. 

—  Matthew  Arnold,  "Obermann  Once  More." 


CONCLUSION 

In  this  brief  survey  of  the  political  changes  wrought  during 
the  nineteenth  century  it  has  been  impossible  to  do  much  more 
than  to  present  essential  facts.  As  in  the  old  Greek  tale,  the 
curtain  is  the  picture.  The  facts  speak  for  themselves  and 
tell  their  own  story.  They  show  how,  all  over  the  civilized 
world,  the  people  have  wrested  Constitutions  from  their  rulers, 
taken  the  government  into  their  own  hands,  and  controlled 
affairs  through  their  chosen  representatives.  Becoming  thus 
their  own  masters,  they  have  thrown  off  the  burdens  that  had 
oppressed  them  for  centuries.  The  legislation  of  the  last  hun- 
dred years  has  largely  been  of  a  i-eformatory  character.  It 
has  been  a  persistent  and  long-continued  effort  to  give  to  the 
common  people  the  rights  that  had  so  long  been  withheld  from 
them.  Broadly  characterized,  this  legislation  may  be  said  to 
have  had  three  distinct  and  notable  tendencies :  to  educate  the 
masses,  to  enfranchise  them,  and  to  relieve  them  from  poverty 
and  suffering.  Ever  since  civilization  began,  the  untrained 
and  ignorant  have  felt  the  tyranny  of  stronger  minds.  In 
ancient  times  they  were  subjected  to  cruel  slavery.  In  the 
middle  ages  they  suffered  from  an  almost  equally  cruel  serf- 
dom. In  modern  times  they  have  been  crushed  beneath  the 
merciless  exactions  of  capital.  Thus  civilization  is  the  story 
of  a  struggle,  throughout  which  the  survival  of  the  fittest 
has  been  the  dominant  law.  In  the  nineteenth  century  the 
struggle  culminated.  Realizing  their  strength,  the  masses 
asserted  themselves  and  forced  from  reluctant  governments 
the  weapons  that  would  enable  them  to  continue  the  endless 
struggle  on  more  equal  terms. 

But,  since  the  tide  of  conflict  ha,s  turned  somewhat  in  their 
favor,  two  interesting  questions  have  arisen  and  claimed  the 
attention  of  thoughtful  minds.  Have  the  weapons  thus  gained 
been  wisely  used  ?     And  is  the  long  conflict  of  the  centuries 

568 


CONCLUSION  569 


likely  to  cease?  Each  of  these  questions  calls  for  a  brief 
consideration. 

The  weapons  bestowed  by  democracy  cannot,  in  the  nature 
of  things,  be  handled  with  perfect  skill.  In  a  democracy  the 
people  become  their  own  rulers,  and  their  essay  at  government 
will  always  reflect  their  own  crudity,  narrowness,  self-suffi- 
ciency, and  unsteadiness  of  purpose.  And  the  more  perfect 
the  democracy,  the  more  certain  is  this  to  be  the  case.  The 
German  Empire  gives  universal  suffrage,  but  such  is  the  force 
of  prestige  and  tradition  that  the  legislators  of  the  nation  are 
largely  swayed  by  the  men  who  are  fitted  to  lead  and  by  the 
government  itself.  The  conditions  are  dissimilar  in  France ; 
yet  there,  too,  the  people  assert  themselves  so  little  that  the 
government  rules  autocratically,  and  year  after  year  and  dec- 
ade after  decade  supports  an  aggressive  and  truculent  mili- 
tarism. But  in  the  United  States  the  people,  in  spite  of  the 
caucus  and  the  primary,  make  their  will  felt  in  the  statute- 
book.  To  a  very  considerable  extent  they  shape  and  control 
legislation ;  and  this  legislation  reflects  the  tone  of  the  aver- 
age mind.  It  lacks  statesmanlike  breadth.  It  is  destructive 
rather  than  constructive  in  character.  It  consists  of  petty 
and  annoying  regulations  rather  than  of  the  enunciation  of 
great  principles.  Some  of  the  provisions  of  the  different  tariff 
laws  are  absurdly  unpractical  and  irrational. 

And  yet  this  legislation  is  worthy  of  respect.  Sometimes 
it  is  the  mere  product  of  a  corrupt  lobby  ;  but  sometimes  it 
reveals  the  honest  efforts  of  undisciplined  minds  to  discover 
the  truth.  And  if  it  is  faulty,  narrow,  and  crude,  where  is  the 
perfect  code  with  which  it  may  be  compared  ?  Did  legislators 
show  consummate  wisdom  before  the  days  of  constitutional- 
ism ?  Rather  did  they  rule  so  atrociously  that  the  people 
swept  them  aside  and  chose  their  own  representatives  to  make 
laws  and  redress  grievances.  And  if  statesmen  have  disap- 
peared from  the  political  arena,  they  have  not  by  any  means 
disappeared  from  national  life.  Strong,  able,  and  original 
minds  are  considering  the  great  questions  of  the  day  and 
arriving  at  well-reasoned  conclusions  regarding  them.  The 
opinions  of  such  thinkers  can  hardly  fail  in  the  end  to  exert 
a  wide  influence  and  to  affect  legislation.  Parliaments  may 
not  of  themselves  discover  wise  methods  of  taxation.     But  if 


570  CONCLUSION 


the  principles  that  shoukl  govern  taxation  are  enunciated  by 
master  minds,  they  may  in  time  find  expression  in  the  statute- 
book.  Similarly,  legislators  that  are  usually  governed  by  self- 
ish motives  may  be  forced  to  obey  the  awakened  moral  sense 
of  the  people.  Civil  service  reform  would  never  have  come 
about  in  the  United  States  if  Congress  had  not  bowed  to  the 
demands  of  the  nation  for  a  pure  and  efficient  management  of 
public  affairs. 

It  may  fairly  be  claimed,  then,  that  the  self-governing  coun- 
tries of  the  world  have  proved  the  worth  of  democratic  insti- 
tutions. If  the  people  have  not  used  their  new-found  weapons 
with  consistent  wisdom,  they  have  yet  used  them  for  good 
rather  than  for  ill.  In  the  countries  where  the  people  have 
most  power  there  is  often  found  the  greatest  prosperity  and 
contentment.  In  England,  Switzerland,  New  Zealand,  Aus- 
tralia, and  the  United  States  there  is  free  exjDression  of  opin- 
ion, enlightened  public  sentiment,  and  an  absence  of  that 
unwise  repression  which  drives  political  diseases  below  the 
surface  and  makes  the  currents  of  national  life  impure.  Even 
in  the  turbulent  South  American  States  we  see  growth,  devel- 
opment, and  progress.  The  people  there  allow  despotic  leaders 
to  control  them,  instead  of  maintaining  the  integrity  of  their 
Constitutions.  Yet  some  of  these  States  have  made  a  marvel- 
lous advance  in  the  course  of  three  quarters  of  a  century. 
Education  has  been  encouraged,  commerce  developed,  and  a 
civilization  of  an  admirable  type  has  slowly  come  into  being. 
It  was  through  democratic  institutions  that  the  Spanish- 
American  peoples  had  to  learn  the  meaning  and  nature  of 
political  responsibilities.  They  have  learned  their  lesson  very 
imperfectly,  but  they  have  learned  it  better  by  far  than  they 
ever  could  have  done  if  they  had  been  subjected  to  a  strong 
and  efficient  foreign  rule,  which  would  have  earned  their  hatred 
even  while  it  gave  them  order  and  settled  peace. 

That  countries  like  Holland,  Sweden,  and  Denmark  are  more 
efficiently  governed  than  most  of  the  Spanish-American  Re- 
publics is  not  to  be  denied.  But  comparisons  between  coun- 
tries that  have  had  such  a  widely  different  political  experience 
are  apt  to  be  misleading.  The  one  essential  fact  in  regard  to 
each  and  every  one  of  these  States  is,  that  in  differing  ways 
and  in  differing   degrees  the  people  have  claimed   the  right 


CONCLUSION  571 


to  be  their  own  masters,  and  have  made  a  galling  and  unjust 
tyranny  impossible  for  any  length  of  time.  Eevolution  is  the 
bane  of  stable  governments,  but  it  is  also  the  bane  of  the 
despot.  It  is  one  of  the  people's  weapons.  If  they  have  often 
used  it  wantonly  and  wickedly,  they  have  also  used  it  from 
time  to  time  with  good  effect.  It  was  through  revolution  that 
France  dealt  absolutism  its  death-blow. 

Let  the  people  have  the  credit,  then,  of  Avielding  their  tre- 
mendous powers  for  the  good  of  civilization  and  progress.  If 
they  have  been  tearing  down,  they  will  yet  build  up.  The 
day  of  statesmen  is  said  to  have  gone  by,  but  it  is  too  soon  to 
make  such  an  assertion.  Only  a  generation  has  passed  since 
Lincoln  gained  an  almost  unparalleled  ascendency  over  a 
whole  people.  Only  a  short  time  has  elapsed  since  the  death 
of  Gladstone,  who  was  the  author  of  more  numerous  humane 
and  liberal  measures  than  any  English  statesman  that  ever 
lived.  And  even  though  the  tendencies  of  the  age  are  critical 
and  analytical  rather  than  constructive,  it  is  not  fair  to  say 
as  yet  that  republican  institutions  cannot  bring  forth  new 
leaders  as  great  as  these.  Bismarck  grew  out  of  the  severe 
and  repressive  regime  of  German  despotism.  The  spirit  of 
freedom  is  surely  much  mf)re  likely  to  produce,  as  they  are 
needed,  "nature's  masterful  great  men."  And  under  their 
leadership  democracy  may  take  new  strides  toward  a  well- 
ordered  political  life. 

The  second  question  that  was  raised  is  more  easily  answered. 
A  mere  glance  at  the  political  world  of  to-day  is  sufficient  to 
show  that  democracy  has  brought  no  cessation  to  the  strife  of 
the  ages.  It  has  changed  the  conditions  of  the  conflict,  but 
not  its  essential  character.  Now  that  the  masses  have  tasted 
power  and  measured  their  strength,  they  have  become  more 
ambitious,  more  grasping,  more  aggressive.  With  them,  as 
with  mankind  the  world  over,  attainment  brings  no  satisfac- 
tion. No  matter  how  much  is  won,  it  is  possible  to  win  still 
more.  Hence,  every  acquisition  becomes  a  source  of  tempta- 
tion rather  than  a  source  of  contentment.  Compared  with  the 
working  classes  of  other  countries,  the  American  laborers  may 
be  said  to  be  happy,  prosperous,  and  contented.  Yet.  partially 
no  doubt  thi'ough  the  mischievous  influence  of  "  walking  dele- 
gates," they  are  continually  clamoring  for  more.     They  wish 


572  CONCLUSION 

shorter  hours,  higher  wages,  and  the  right  to  dictate  to  capital 
the  terms  upon  which  every  industry  is  to  be  conducted. 

Nor  is  this  spirit  of  self-seeking  confined  to  the  wage-earners. 
It  is  shared  by  the  people  of  moderate  means  who  view  with 
dislike  the  accumulation  of  colossal  fortunes.  Through  the 
discontent  that  exists  among  people  of  this  class — a  discontent 
that  is  often  founded  upon  intelligent  convictions  rather  than 
upon  envious  and  malignant  feelings  —  arises  a  persistent  and 
relentless  warfare  upon  capital.  The  legislatures  abound  in 
communistic  spirits  who  believe  that  the  regeneration  of 
society  can  only  be  accomplished  by  placing  all  industries 
under  State  control. 

Thus  the  wage-earners  and  the  small  property-owners  work, 
either  separately  or  conjointly,  against  further  accumulations 
of  capital.  In  short,  they  attack  private  ownership,  and  this 
attack  makes  the  large  holders  of  vested  interests  unite  in  self- 
defence.  And  their  union  is  a  formidable  one.  So  enormous 
are  the  returns  of  well-conducted  business  ventures  that  the 
men  of  the  largest  brain  power  and  the  widest  resources  are 
attracted  to  the  field  of  industrial  and  commercial  enterprise. 
Finding  themselves  assailed,  these  men  combine  to  protect 
themselves ;  and  the  powers  they  have  used  to  acquire  colossal 
fortunes  they  now  use  to  preserve  them.  They  are  vastly 
outnumbered,  but  the  combat  is  not  an  unequal  one.  For, 
first  of  all,  the  capitalist  has  his  own  wealth  to  fall  back  upon 
and  to  support  him  in  time  of  need,  while  the  workman's  very 
poverty  soon  drives  him  to  the  wall.  But  more  than  this,  the 
capitalist  has  the  disciplined,  far-reaching  intelligence,  Avhich 
makes  him  the  more  perfect  type  in  the  great  struggle  for 
existence.  He  is  more  highly  developed  and  therefore  better 
fitted  to  survive.  And  survive  he  does,  while  the  man  of 
strong  arm  and  honest  but  narrow  brain  goes  down  in  the 
fight. 

Such  are  the  conditions  under  which  the  long  struggle 
between  the  classes  now  goes  on,  and  seems  likely  to  go  on 
without  cessation.  It  is  difficult  to  see  that  the  growth  of 
democracy  has  abated  this  stubborn  warfare.  In  the  greatest 
democracy  the  world  has  ever  seen,  the  last  decade  of  the 
century  witnessed  vested  interests  arrayed  against  labor  in  a 
fierce  struggle  for  supremacy.      For,  as   has   been   elsewhere 


CONCLUSION  573 


pointed  out,  the  presidential  election  of  189G  meant  nothing 
else  than  this. 

And  this  struggle  will  be  endlessly  repeated.  Neither  the 
cooperative  movement  nor  State  socialism  can  ever  bring  it  to 
an  end.  Let  the  wage-earners  become  profit-sharers  just  so 
far  as  they  can ;  they  have  a  right  to  all  they  can  fairly  win. 
And  let  the  State  assume  control  of  all  enterprises  it  can 
manage  better  than  the  individual.  But  however  much  these 
movements  grow  and  spread,  they  cannot  change  the  funda- 
mental conditions  of  human  life.  A  world  that  teems  with 
riches  invites  conquest.  To  brute  force  assisted  by  human 
invention  it  yields  up  its  treasures  in  bewildering  profusion. 
But  no  sooner  has  it  yielded  them  up  than  the  struggle  for 
possession  begins.  It  is  an  absorbing  and  a  furious  struggle, 
for  the  rewards  of  victory  are  great.  Accordingly,  it  brings 
all  the  powers  and  resources  of  the  human  mind  into  play. 
No  perfectly  devised  scheme  of  distribution,  no  artificial  struc- 
ture of  Society  can  ever  bring  this  exciting  contest  to  an  end. 
There  is  an  arena;  there  are  the  prizes.  Combatants  will 
never  be  wanting  until  the  auri  scicra  fames  is  banished  from 
the  human  heart.  The  moment  that  profit-sharing  became, 
universal,  there  would  be  a  reaction  against  it.  The  more 
completely  State  socialism  became  established,  the  more  surely 
would  its  structure  crumble  away.  The  saying  of  the  Roman 
poet,  that  nature  will  not  yield  to  force,^  is  as  true  of  the 
human,  as  it  is  of  the  inanimate,  world. 

But  surely  this  great  conflict  is  best  waged  under  popular 
government.  When  the  people  truly  rule,  they  cannot  be 
oppressed.  The  only  burdens  they  carry  will  be  those  they 
put  upon  themselves.  And  these  burdens  may  indeed  be 
heavy  ones.  Through  absurd  and  fantastic  legislation  they 
may  cripple  trade,  make  capital  unproductive,  vitiate  the  cur- 
rency, and  bring  distress  to  the  poor  man,  whom  above  all  they 
wish  to  help.  But  through  mistakes  and  failures  will  come  a 
more  perfect  knowledge.  Gradually  it  will  be  seen  that  legis- 
lation is  not  a  cure  for  poverty ;  and  a  nation  can  afford  to 

1  The  phrase  is  borrowed  from  the  well-known  lines  of  Horace  {Ep.  I., 
10 :  24,  25) : 

Naturani  cxpellas  furca,  tainen  usque  I'ecurret 
Et  mala  perruuipel  furtini  fastidia  victrix. 


574  CONCLUSION 


make  costly  errors  to  learn  this  lesson.  It  is  a  lesson  that 
never  can  be  learned  in  countries  that  are  governed  by  a  privi- 
leged class.  In  such  countries  there  will  be  seething  discon- 
tent among  the  masses,  who  will  attribute  all  their  ills  to  the 
selfishness  of  their  rulers.  But  in  a  democracy  the  people 
must  see  in  time  that  the  warfare  of  the  classes  is  not  due  to 
governmental  oppression.  And  such  knowledge  should  go  far 
toward  removing  the  bitterness  that  has  characterized  this 
unceasing  conflict. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


GENERAL  WORKS 

BIBLIOGRAPHIES  :  Langlois :  Manud  de  BihliograpMe  historique. 

—  Monod  :  Bihliographie  de  Vhistoire  de  France.  —  Sonnenschein  : 
A  Iteadefs  Guide.  —  Oettinger  :  Bihliographie  Biographique  Universelle. 

—  Annales  de  Geographie  :  Bibliographie  Ge'ographique  Annuelle. — 
Cory,  William  :  Guide  to  Moderyi  English  History.  — Hart  and  Chan- 
ning  :  (ruide  to  the  Stndg  of  American  History. — Peabody  Institute 
Library  of  Baltimore  :  Printed  catalogue  contains  valuable  bibliogra- 
phies under  the  names  of  countries. 

HISTORIES  :  Alison,  Sir  Archibald  :  History  of  Europe  from 
1789-1815,  13  vol.,  1840-42  ;  fruvi  1815-52,  8  vol.,  1852-59;  and  more 
recent  editions.  Carefully  done;  Tory  in  its  sympathies. — Miiller, 
Wilhelm  :  Political  History  of  Recent  Times,  1882.  Spirited  ;  interest- 
ing ;  lacks  proportion.  • — Bulle,  Constantin  :  Geschichte  der  neuesten 
Zeit,  1886.  —  Oncken,  Wilhelm  :  Allgemeine  Geschichte.  A  popular 
work  in  thirty-six  volumes  written  by  a  number  of  specialists.  Publica- 
tion begun  in  1878.  Volumes  1-6  in  Series  IV.,  which  treat  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  are  of  recent  date.  — Fyffe,  C.  A. :  A  History  of  3Iodern 
Europe,  new  ed.,  1896,  3  vol.  in  one.  Narrative  terse  but  interesting. 
One  of  the  best  works  for  the  period  it  covers.  — Lowell,  A.  Lawrence  : 
Governments  and  Parties  of  Continental  Europe  2  vol.,  1896.  Indispen- 
sable to  the  student  of  political  history. — Seignobos,  C.  H.  :  Histoire 
Politique  de  VEurope  Contemporaine,  1897.  A  work  of  sound  scholar- 
ship, written  in  a  scientific  spirit.  English  translation  (1899)  contains  an 
index.  —  Andrews,  Charles  M.  :  The  Historical  Development  of  Modern 
Europe,  2  vol.,  l.S!»8.     Valuable  ;  does  not  give  references  to  authorities. 

GENERAL  WORKS  OF  REFERENCE  :  Larned's  History  for 
Ready  Reference  :  5  vol.  Composed  of  extracts  from  many  authors. 
A  very  useful  compilation.  — Lalor's  Cyclopaedia  of  Political  Science, 

Note.  Original  sources  are  not  indicated  in  the  case  of  countries  whose 
languages  are  not  generally  read.  For  such  information  the  bibliographies 
should  be  consulted.  Memoirs  and  Letters,  though  they  may  fairly  be 
considered  original  sources,  are,  for  the  sake  of  convenience,  classed  with 
biographies.  The  works  mentioned  are  arranged,  not  alphabetically,  but 
chronologically,  according  to  the  date  of  their  publication.  The  English 
translation  of  a  foreign  work  is  almost  invariably  mentioned  in  preference  to 
tbe  original. 

576 


576  BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Political  History,  and  United  States  History  :  3  vol.  — Larousse's 
Grand  Dictionnaire  Universel  du  XIX  Si^cle  :  Comprehensive.  In- 
formation detailed  and  minute.  —  Encyclopaedia  Britannica  :  Historical 
and  biographical  monographs  mostly  written  by  specialists,  and  valu- 
able. —  Haydn's  Dictionary  of  Dates. —  Harper's  Book  of  Facts.  — 
Ploetz's  Epitome  of  Universal  History. — Heilprin's  Historical 
Reference  Book.  — The  Annual  Register.  Since  1758.  — Appleton's 
Amiual  Cyclopaedia.  Since  18(51. — Revue  Encyclopedique.  Issued 
annually  since  1891.  —  The  Statesman's  Year-Book.  Since  1861. — 
Other  Year-Books;  as  Annuaire  Statistique  de  la  France;  Hand- 
buch  fiir  das  Deutsche  Reich;  Annuario  Statistica  Italiano. — 
Whitaker's  Almanac.  Since  1809. — Hazell's  Annual.  Since  1886. 
Gives  a  valuable  summary  of  the  proceedings  of  the  more  important  legis- 
lative and  parliamentary  bodies  the  world  over.  —  The  Politician's 
Hand-Book.     Since  1899.     Extremely  aseful. 

BIOGRAPHICAL  "WORKS :  Thomas  :  Universal  Pronouncing 
Dictionary  of  Biography  uitd  Mytliology,  1880.  —  Sanders  :  Celebrities 
of  the  Century,  1887. —Ward:  Jlen  of  the  Biign,  12th  ed.,  1887.— 
Vapereau  :  Dictionnaire  Universel  des  Contemporains,  0th  ed.,  1893. — 
Plarr:  Men  and  Women  of  the  Time,  14th  ed.,  1895.  —  Camden  Pratt; 
People  of  the  Period,  1897.  — Appleton  ;  Cyclopcedia  of  American  Biog- 
raphy. Useful  for  Mexico,  Central  and  South  America,  as  well  as  for  the 
United  States.  —  Stephen  and  Lee  :  Dictionary  of  National  Biography 
(English).  Nearly  completed.  —  Liliencron  and  Wegele  .-  Alhjemeine 
Deutsche  Biographic.     Not  completed. 

GEOGRAPHICAL  WORKS  AND  ATLASES  :  Freeman  :  His- 
torical Geography  of  Europe.  Vol.  I.,  text  ;  Vol.  II.,  atlas.  New 
edition,  1882.  —  Himly  .  Histoire  de  la  Formation  territoriale  des  etats 
de  V Europe  Centrale,  2d  ed.,  1890. — Hertslet  :  3Iap  of  Europe  by 
Treaty,  1814-1891.  —  Vivien  de  Saint-Martin:  Nouveau  Dictionnaire 
de  Geographic  Universelle,  7  vol.,  1879-95.  Information  detailed  and  com- 
plete.—  Reclus:  The  Earth  and  its  Inhabitants,  19  vol.,  1886-95. — 
Stanford ;  Comp)endium  of  Geography  and  Travel,  8  vol.  Publication 
begun  in  1882.  Some  works  in  the  series  have  been  recently  revised.  — 
Poole  :  Historical  Atlas  of  3Iodern  Eiirope.  All  the  parts  not  yet  issued. 
—  Schrader  :  Atlas  de  Geographic  Historique.  — Droysen  :  Allgemeine, 
Historischer  Hand-Atlas. — Mill,  H.  R.  (Editor):  The  International 
Geography,  1900. 

GENEALOGIES :  Lorenz  :  Genealogisches  Handbuch  der  EuropH- 
ischen  Staatengcschichte.  —  Grote  :  Stammtafeln.  —  George:  Genea- 
logical Tables  Illustrative  of  Modern  History.  —  Convenient,  and  for 
ordinary  use,  adequate  Tables  are  contained  in  H.  Morse  Stephens's 
Lectures  on  Blodern  History ;  and,  for  the  French  royal  lines,  in  the 
StudenVs  History  of  France.  —  Genealogies  may  be  traced  in  the  Alma- 
nach  de  Gotha  (since  1764)  ;  and  many  questions  of  descent  and  relation- 
ship may  be  settled  by  the  aid  of  Haydn''s  Dictionary  of  Dates^  or  2'he 
Statesman''s  Year-Book. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  577 


POLITICAL,    HISTORICAL,  AND   ECONOMIC    REVIEWS 

ENGLISH :  Edinburgh  Review.  Since  1802.  —  Quarterly  Re- 
vie^^r.  Since  l<S(i;». — Blackv^ood's  Edinburgh  Magazine.  Since 
1817. — Westminster  Review.  Siiue  1824. — Spectator  (weekly). 
Since  1828. — Saturday  Review  (weekly).  Since  1855. — Contempo- 
rary Review.  Since  1800.  —  Fortnightly  Review.  Since  1865. — 
Nineteenth  Century.     Since  1877.  —  Historical  Review.     Since  1886. 

—  Speaker  (weekly).     Since  1889. — Economic  Review.     Since  1891. 

—  Economic  Journal.     Since  1891. 

AMERICAN:  North  American  Review.  Since  1815. — The 
Nation  (weekly).  Since  1865.  —  American  Law^  Review^.  Since 
1866. — Magazine  of  American  History.  Since  1877.  —  Forum. 
Since  1886.  —  Political  Science  Quarterly.  Since  1886.  —  Quarterly 
Journal  of  Economics.     Since  1887.  — Current  History.     Since  1891. 

—  Journal  of  Political  Economy.  Since  1898.  —  Historical  Review^. 
Since  1895. 

GERMAN  AND  FRENCH  :  Among  the  more  important  are  :  His- 
torische  Zeitschrift.  Since  1859. — Revue  des  Deux  Mondes. 
Since  18"]1.  — Revue  des  Questions  Historique.  Since  18(>().  — Revue 
Historique.  Since  1876.  —  Revue  Politique  et  Parlementaire. 
Since  1891. 

WORKS  ISSUED  IN  SERIES  :  Story  of  The  Nations.  The 
volumes  of  this  series  for  the  most  part  give  a  very  meagre  treatment  of 
the  nineteenth  centnry  ;  but  a  few  of  them,  wliich  have  been  duly  noticed 
under  the  proper  head,  are  serviceable.  —  Public  Men  of  To-day.  Use- 
ful. —  Questions  of  the  Day.  A  very  timely  series  of  volumes.  —  Johns 
Hopkins  University  Studies  in  Historical  and  Political  Science. 

—  Columbia  University  Studies  in  Political  Science.  —  Annals  of 
the  American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science  (Philadel- 
phia). 

WORKS  ON   SOCIAL,   INDUSTRIAL,   AND   ECONOMIC  SUBJECTS' 

Jevons,  W.  Stanley:  3Iethods  of  Social  Beform,  1883.  —  Graham, 
W.  A.  :  The,  SaciiiJ  rmhlem,  1886. — Rae,  John  :  Contrmponinj  Sarial- 
ism,  1891.— Marx,  Carl:  Gujnial ;  or  Tha  SlmlenVs  Marx,  by  Edw^ard 
Aveling,  1892.  —  Ely,  Richard  :  Socialism  and  Social  Beform,  1894. — 
Kidd,  Benjamin:  Social  Erolutinn,  1894. —  Nitti,  Francesco  S.  : 
Catholic  Siiciulism,,  1895.  —  M'Kechnie, William  Sharp  -.The  State  and 
the  Individual,  1896.  —  Zenker,  E.  V.  :  Anarchism,  Its  History  and 
Theory,  1897.  —  Sombart,  Werner  :  Socialism  and  the  Sacial  Move- 
ment in  the  Nineteenth  Coitnry,  1H\)8.  Valuable. — Mallock,  W.  H.  : 
Ai-istocracy  and  Evolution,  1898. 

1  As  these  subjects  are  vitally  connected  with  political  growth  and  progress, 
a  few  work.s  that  treat  of  them  are  mentioned.    But  it  is  impossible  to  make 
so  brief  a  li.st  fairly  representative. 
2  p 


578  BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Jones,  Benjamin:  Cooperative  Production,  1894. — Webb,  Sidney 
and  Beatrice:  Trade  Unionism,  1894;  Industrial  Democracy,  1899. — 
Lloyd,  H.  D.  :  Labor  Co-partnership,  1898.  —  Menger,  Anton:  Tlie 
Bight  to  the  Whole  Produce  of  Labor,  1899. — Smart,  William:  Lhe 
Distribution  of  Income,  1899.  —  Gilman,  N.  P.  :  A  Dividend  to  Labor, 
1900.  —Clark,  J.  B.  :    The  Distribution  of  Wealth,  19U0. 

Walker,  F.  A.:  Political  Economy,  1888.  —  Bohm-Bawerk,  Eugen 
F.  :  Capital  and  Interest,  1890.  The  theory  of  interest  here  presenttd 
attracted  much  attention.  —  Marshall,  Alfred  :  Principles  of  Economics, 
2  vol.,  1890.  Important.  —  Rand,  Benjamin  (Compiler):  Selections 
Illustrating  Economic  History  since  the  Seven  Years''  War,  1892.  — 
Patten,  Simon  N.  :  The  Economic  Basis  of  Protection,  1895.  One  of 
the  most  notable  of  the  works  that  defend  protection.  — Dunbar,  C.  F.  : 
Currency,  Finance  and  Banking,  Revised  edition,  1896.  — Plehn,  C.  C.  : 
Introduction  to  Public  Finance,  1896. — Seligman,  E.  R.  A.:  Essays 
in  Taxation,  1897. — Daniels,  W.  M.  :  Elements  of  Public  Finance, 
1900.  — Ely,  Richard  T.  :  Monopolies  and  Trusts,  1900.  —  Gunton, 
George:    Trusts  and  the  Public,  1900. 


FRANCE 

SOURCES:  Archives  Parliamentaires.  A  full  record  of  parlia- 
mentary i)r(iceedings.  Volume  LXXV.  brought  the  record  down  to 
1834.  —  Amiales,  published  annually  since  1861,  gives  the  doings  of  the 
legislative  bodies  that  have  existed  under  the  various  governments.  — 
Le  Journal  des  Debats  Politiques  et  Litteraires.  In  its  111th 
year  in  1«99.  —  Bulletin  des  Lois;  Bulletin  de  Statistique  et  de 
Legislation  Comparee  ;  Statistique  Agricole  Annuelle,  and  other 
official  pul)lications. 

HISTORIES:  (1)  GENERAL:  Crowe,  E.  E.  :  Tfie  History  of 
France,  in  5  vol.  Brings  the  narrative  to  1851.  — Martin,  Henri  :  His- 
toire  de  France  de  1789  a  nos  jours,  8  vol.,  1878-1885. — Jervis,  W. 
K.  :  The  Students  History  of  France,  revised  ed.,  1884.  —  Duruy, 
Victor:  History  of  France,  1889. 

(2)  SPECIAL  :  Lowell,  E.  J.  :  The  Eve  of  the  French  Revolution, 
1892.  —  Taine,  H.  A.  :  The  Ancient  Regime,  1876  ;  The  French  Revolu- 
tion, 3  vol.,  1878-1885  ;  The  Modern  Regime,  2  vol.,  1890-1894.  —  Sybel, 
Heinrich  von  :  History  of  the  French  Revolution,  4  vol.,  186(5-1868.  — 
Stephens,  H.  Morse:  History  of  the  French  Revolution,  2  vol.,  1886- 
1891.  —  Hoist,  H.  von:  The  French  Revolution  tested  by  Mirabeau's 
Career,  2  vol.,  1894.  —  Thiers,  Adolpbe  :  History  of  the  French  Revolu- 
tion, 10  vol.,  1862;  History  of  the  Consulate  and  the  Empire,  20  vol., 
1845-1861.  Various  other  editions  have  been  published.  The  histories 
of  Thiers  are  brilliant,  but  unscientific  and  not  wholly  trustworthy. — 
Mignet,  F.  A.  M.  :  History  of  the  French  Revolution,  1856.  One  of  the 
best  brief  accounts.  —  Lanfrey,  P.  :  History  of  Xupolenn  I.,  4  vol.,  1871- 
1879.      The  standard  work  on  Napoleon.  —  Sloane,  W.  M.  :  Napoleon. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  579 


A  History,  4  vol.,  1897-1898.— Mahaii,  A.  T.  :  The  Influence  of  Sea  Power 
upon  the  French  Revolution  and  Empire,  2  vol.,  1892. — Viel-Castel, 
Louis  de :  Histoire  de  la  liestauration,  20  vol.,  1860-1878.  Cliietiy 
useful  for  reference. — Blanc,  Louis  :  The  Histonj  of  Ten  Years  (1880- 
1840),  2  vol.,  1844.  Socialistic. — Lamartiiie,  Alphonse  de  :  The  His- 
tory of  the  Restoration  of  Monarchy  in  France,  4  vol.,  1864  ;  History  of  the 
Revolution  of  184S,  1852.  These  works  are  brilliant  pictures  of  events 
rather  than  histories. — Pierre,  Victor:  Histoire.de  la  Republique  de 
184S,  2  vol.,  1878.  —  Delord,  Taxile  :  Histoire  du  Second  Empire, 
6  vol.,  1870.  The  standard  work  on  the  subject.  —  Gorce,  P.  de  la: 
Histoire  du  Second  Empire,  3  vol.,  1894.  Friendly  to  Napoleon.  Not  yet 
completed. — Ferry,  Jules:  La  Lutte  Electorale  en  1863,  18G3.  — 
Adams,  C.  K.  :  Democracy  and  Monarchy  in  France,  2d  ed.,  1875. 
Traces  the  causes  which  brought  about  the  overthrow  of  the  Second 
Empire.  —  Simon,  Jules:  The  Government  of  M.  77uVn'*,  2  vol.,  1879. 
Interesting  and  valuable. — Coubertin,  Baron  Pierre  de  :  The  Evo- 
lution of  France  under  the  Third  Jie/ndtlic,  1897.     Important. 

MEMOIRS;  CORRESPONDENCE:  Bourriemie,  L.  A.  Fau- 
velet  de  :  Memoirs  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  4  vol.,  1893.  —  Rdmusat, 
Madame  de  :  Memoirs,  1802-1808,  2  vol.,  1880.  —Napoleon  I.,  Corre- 
spondancede,  28  vol.,  1858-1869.  — Broglie,  Due  de  :  Personal  Recollec- 
tions of,  1785-1820,  1887.  —  Lafayette,  Marquis  de  :  Memoirs  of, 
1870.  —  Tocqueville,  Alexis  de  :  Memoirs,  Letters,  and  Remains,  2  vol., 
1801.  —  Guizot,  F.  :  Mrmnirs  on  the  History  of  My  Otcn  Times,  4  vol., 
1856-1858.  — Senior,  William  Massau  :  Journals  (1848-1852),  2  vol., 
1871;  Conversations  with  M.  Thiers,  31.  Guizot,  a)id  Other  DistintjuisJied 
Persons  during  the  Second  Empire,  2  vol.,  1878.  —  Falloux,  Comte  de  : 
Memoirs  of,  2  vol.,  1880-1881.  The  comments  of  a  liberal-minded  mon- 
archist upon  a  long  series  of  events.  — Viel  Castel,  Comte  Horace  de  : 
Memoirs  of,  2  vol.,  1888.  Time  of  Napoleon  III.  —  Washbume,  E.  B.  : 
Recollections  of  a  Minister  to  France,  2  vol.,  1887.  Gives  a  valuable  pic- 
ture of  the  Connimne  of  1871. 

GENERAL  WORKS  :  Lebon,  A.  and  Pelet,  P.  :  France  As  It  Is, 
1888.  —  Brownell,  W.  C. :  French  Traits,  1889.  A  searching  analysis 
of  the  national  character.  —  Bodley,  J.  E.  C.  :  France,  2  vol.,  1898. 

FINANCES  :  Viihrer,  M.  A.  :  Histoire  de  la  dette  publique  en 
France,  1880.  —  Say,  Leon :  Les  Finances  de  la  France  soiis  la  2\oisihne 
Repuhliqne.     Vol.  I.     1871-1875.     1898. 

COLONIES  :  Vignon,  L.  :  Les  Colonies  francaises,  1885  ;  H Expan- 
sion de  la  France,  1891. —  Norman,  C.  B.  :  Colonial  France,  1886.— 
Rambaud,  Alfred :  La  France  Coloniale,  1895. 

ITALY 

SOURCES :  Statesman's  Year  Book  contains  lists  of  the  official 
publications  of  the  goverinnent. — The  Amiual  Register  and  other 
Annuals  record  the  events  of  each  year.  —  For  Documents  consult  the 
historical  bibliographies. 


580  BIBLIOGRAPHY 


HISTORIES :  Pepe,  Guglielmo :  Relation  cles  Evenements  Poli- 
tiques  et  MiliUdres  qui  ont  lieu  a  Naples  en  1S20  et  1S21,  1822  ;  His- 
toire  des  Revolutions  et  Guerres  cVItalie  en  1847-49,  1850.  Events 
described  by  one  who  took  part  in  tliem.  —  Probyn,  J.  W.  :  Italy, 
1815-90,  1891.  —Thayer,  W.  K.  :  The  Dawn  of  Italian  Independence, 
2  vol.,  1803.  —  Cesaresco,  Countess:  The  Liberation  of  Italy,  1815- 
1870,  1894.  —  Stillman,  "W.  J.  :  The  Union  of  Italy,  1898.     Valuable. 

—  King,  Bolton  :  A  History  of  Italian  Unity,  2  vol.,  1899.  Based  upon 
wide  research.  — Orsi,  Pietro  :  Modern  Italy  (1748-1898),  1900.  In  the 
Story  of  the  Nations  series. 

LETTERS  ;  MEMOIRS  ;  BIOGRAPHIES  :  Azeglio,  Marquis  d': 
Souvenirs,  2  vol.,  18G7  ;  Lettere,  1883. — Cavour,  Count  di :  Discorsi, 
12  vol.,  1863-72;  Lettere,  G  vol.,  1883-87. —Ricasoli,  Baron:  Lettere  e 
documenti,  10  vol.,  1888-95.  —  Mazzini,  Joseph:  Life  and  Writings  of, 
6  vol.,  1888.  — R6cca,  General  Count  deUa  :  The  Autobiography  of  a 
Veteran,  1807-1893,  1898. 

Mazade,  Charles  de  :  The  Life  of  Coiint  Cavour,  1877. — Dicey, 
Edward:  Victor  Emmanuel,  1882. — Cesaresco,  Coiuitess :  Italian 
Characters  in  the  Epoch  <f  Unification,  1890  ;   Cavour,  1898. 

GENERAL    WORKS :   Laveleye,    Emile   de :    Eltalie  actuelle, 

1881. — Gallenga,  A.:    Italy  Present  and  Future,  1887.  —  Beauclerk, 

W.  N.  :  Rural  Italy,  an  Account  of  the  Present  Agricultural  Conditions 

of    the    Kingdom,  1888.  —  Amicis,  Edmondo  de :    Cuore,  an  Italian 

Schoolboy^ s  Journal,  1887.     Gives  an  interesting  picture  of  education  in 

Italy. 

SPAIN 

CHRONICLES;  RECORDS;  DOCUMENTS:  The  course  of 
events  may  be  traceil  in  The  Annual  Register  ;  Appleton's  Annual 
Cyclopaedia:  Hazell's  Annual ;  ami  Current  History.  —  Miraflores, 

N.  N.  de :  Mernorias  para  escribir  la  historia  contemporanea  de  los  siete 
primcros  annos  del  reinado  de  Isabel  II.,  2  vol.,  1843-44. — Burgos, 
Javier  de:  Annates  del  reinado  de  Dona  Isabel  II.,  6  vol.,  1850-52. — 
Muro,  Martinez  J.:   Constitxitiones  de  Espana,  2  vol.,  1881. 

HISTORIES:  Dunham,  S.  A.  :  Ilie  History  (f  Spain  and  Portugal, 
5  vol.,  1832.  A  careful  and  scholarly  work. — "Walton,  William  :  Revo- 
lutions in  Spain,  1808-1836,  2  vol.,  1837.  —  Baumgarten,  Hermann: 
G'eschichte  Spaniens,  3  vol.,  1865-71.  The  best  general  history. — Hub- 
bard, G.  :  Ilistoire  Contcmporaine  de  VEspagne,  4  vol.,  1882-84. — 
Curry,  J.  M.  :  Constitutional  Government  in  Spain,  1889.  —  Latimer, 
E.  W.  :  Spain  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  1898.     A  useful  compendium. 

—  Strobel.  E.  H.  :    Tlie  Spanish  Revolution,  1865-1868,  1898. 
GENERAL    WORKS  :  Cushing,  Caleb :  Reminiscences  of  Spain, 

2  vol.,  1833. — Amicis,  Edmondo  de  :  Spain,  1873.  —  Gallenga,  A.: 
Iberian  Reminiscences,  2  vol.,  lbS3.  —  Sfeve,  E.  :  La  Situation  econo- 
mique  de  VEspagne,  1887.  —  Field,  H.  M. :  Old  Spain  and  New  Spain, 
18R8.  —  Lowell,  James  Russell :  Impressions  of  Spain,  1899.  — Valera 
and  Perez  Galdos,  the  novelists,  give  vivid  pictures  of  life,  manners,  and 
social  conditions  in  Spain.    Gloria,  by  the  latter  author,  is  especially  valuable. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  581 


PORTUGAL 

SOURCES:  Saldanha,  Duke  of:  Memoirs,  2  vol.,  1880.  The  Duke 
of  Saldanha  was  proinineiit  in  rortuguese  wars  and  politics  for  half  a 
century.  His  record  of  events  is  interesting  and  valuable.  —  Govern- 
ment's Official  Publications.  —  The  various  Annuals.  —  Documentos 
para  a  Historia  das  Cortes  de  Nagao  Portuguesa :  1820-182S,  4  vol., 
188:5-1^87. 

HISTORIES  AND  GENERAL  WORKS  :  BoUaert,  William  : 
The  Wars  of  Succssion  in  Furtugul  and  Spain  fram  1S26-1S40,  2  vol., 
1870.  Important  only  because  of  the  lack  of  good  histories  of  Portugal.  — 
Stephens,  H.  Morse:  Portugal  (in  the  Story  of  the  Nations  series), 
1890.  Excellent.  —  Crawfurd,  Oswald  :  rortufjal  Old  and  New,  1880  : 
Round  the  Calendar  in  Portugal,  1890.  —  Lavigne,  Germonde  de : 
VEspagne  et  le  Portugal,  1885. 

BELGIUM 

SOURCES  :  Huyttens :  Discussions  du  congres  national  de  Belgique, 

5  vol.  (]830-iy-';i ) ;  AtniaU's  parlementaires  de  Belgique,  5  vol.,  1881- 
1884.  —  Spelen,  Verstolk  van:  Pecueil  de  pieces  diplomatique  relatives 
aux  affaires  de  la  Bidgique  en  1830-1832.  —  Thonissen,  J.  J.  :  La  Con- 
stitution beige  annate e ;  Almanach  lioi/al  Officiel  de  Belgique;  Annuaire 
statistique  de  la  Belgique,  and  other  official  publications. 

HISTORIES  :  Thonissen,  J.  J.  :  La  Belgique  sous  le  regne  de  Leo- 
pold I.,  4  vol.,  1855-58.  —  Hymans,  Henri  Simon:  Histoire  parlemen- 
taire  de  la  Belgique  de  1814  «  1830,  1809  ;  Histoire  parleme ntaire  de  la 
Belgique  de  1830  a  1880,  1887-1880.  —Juste,  Th.  :  La  Bevolntion  beige, 
1870. — Laveleye,  Emile  de :  Le  parti  clerical  en  Belgique,  1874.— 
Bavay,  Ch.  Victor  de  :  Histoire  de  la  Revolution  beige  de  1830,  1870.  — 
Bertrand,  L.  :  Leopold  II.  et  son  regne,  1865-1890,  1876.  —  Balau.  L.  : 
Soixante-dix  ans  d'histoire  de  Belgique,  1890.  —  English  works  upon 
Belgium  are  few.  To  trace  the  course  of  events,  consult  the  Annuals  and 
the  English  political  Reviews. 

SAN  MARINO 

Bent,  J.  H. :  A  Freak  of  Freedom,  1879.  —  The  Republic  of  San  Ma- 
rino. Translated  from  the  French,  1880.  Printed  for  private  distriliu- 
tion,  but  found  in  some  of  the  larger  libraries.  — Boyer  de  Sainte 
Suzanne,  R.  de :  La  Republiqne  de  Saint-Marin,  1883. — Franciosi, 
P.:  Garibaldi  e  la  Republica  San  Marino,  1891. 

ANDORRA 

Jaybert,  L^on :  La  Republique  d''Andorre,  1865.  —  Spender,  H.  : 
Through  the  High  Pyrenees,  1898;  and  ^  Visit  to  Andorra,  in  The  Fort- 
nightly Revievy,  67  :  44.  —  Consult  also  Les  Vallees  d'' Andorre,  in  the 
Revue  Encyclopedique  for  1898,  p.  ;J41. 


582  BIBLIOGRAPHY 


AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 

SOURCES  :  Consult  Dahlmann-Waitz,  Quellenkunde  der  deutschen 
Geschichte ;  and  Muhlbrecht,  Wegweiser  zur  Literatur  der  Staats- 
wissenschaflen.  Metteriiich's  Nachgelassene  Papiere  (8  vol.,  1880-84) 
are  useful. 

HISTORIES;  MEMOIRS:  Kelley,  W.  H.,  and  Hartig,  Count: 
Continuation  o/ William  Coxe's  History  of  the  House  of  Austria.  This 
volume,  published  later  than  the  three  volumes  of  the  original  work,  con- 
tains a  valuable  study  of  the  causes  of  the  revolution  of  1848.  — Springer, 
Anton:  Geschichte  Oesterreichs,  2  vol.,  1863-65.  —  Asseline,  Louis: 
Hi^toire  de  VAutriche  dcpiiis  In  Mort  de  Marie  llierese  ji(sqii''a  nos 
jours,  1877. — Whitman,  Sidney  :  Austria  (in  the  iStory  of  the  Nations 
series),  1890.  —  Metternich,  Prince:  Memoirs  of,  5  vol.,  1880-81. — 
Beust,  Count  von :  Memoirs,  2  vol.,  1887.  Give  an  interesting  view  of 
the  liberalization  of  Austria  after  the  war  with  Prussia  in  1866. 

POLITICAL  STUDIES  ;  GENERAL  WORKS  :  E.  O.  S. :  Hun- 
gary and  its  Hevolutiuns.  In  Bohn's  Lil)rary. — Patterson,  Arthur 
J.:  T/ie  Magyars,  1809. — Englishman,  An:  The  Austro-Hungarian 
Empire  and  the  Policy  of  Count  Beust,  1870. — Worms,  Henry 
de  :  The  Austro-Hungarian  Empire.  A  Political  Sketch  of  Men  and 
Events  since  1866,  1877.  —  Stillman,  "W.  J.:  Herzegovina  and  the 
Late  Uprising,  1877.  —  Kay,  David  :  Austria-Hungary,  1880. — For  the 
civilizing  work  done  by  Austria  in  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina,  consult 
De  Laveleye's  The  Balkan  Peninsula  (2  vol.,  1887)  and  The  Quarterly 
Review,  189:  281. 

For  Liechtenstein,  consult  Falke,  Jacob  von  :  Geschichte  desfilrst- 
lichen  Hauses  Liechtenstein,  2  vol.,  1868-77. 

SERVIA 

Ranke,  Leopold  von  :  The  History  of  Servia  and  the  Servian  Bevo- 
lution,  1847.  The  standard  work  for  the  period  it  covers.  —  Mijatovitch, 
E.  L.:  The  History  of  Modern  Servia,  1872.  — Holland.  Thomas  Er- 
skine:  The  European  Concert  on  the  Eastern  Question,  1885.  — Minchin, 
J.  S.  C.  :  The  Growth  of  Freedom  in  the  Balkan  Peninsida,  1886.  — 
Laveleye.  Emile  de :  The  Balkan  Peninsula,  2  vol.,  1887.  —  Macken- 
zie, A.  Muir :  Travels  in  the  Slavonic  Provinces  of  Turkey  in  Europe, 
1887.  —  Millet,  Rene:  La  Serbe  ecnnomique  et  commerciale.  1889. — 
Vivian,  H. :  Servia,  the  Poor  Man''s  Paradise,  1897.  —  Miller,  William  : 
The  Balkans,  1896.  In  the  Story  of  the  Nations  series.  Useful  for 
all  the  Balkan  States  ;  Travels  and  Politics  in  the  Near  East,  1899.  Dis- 
cusses all  the  countries  of  southeastern  Europe. 

GREECE 

Capodistrias,  J.  :  Correspondance  du  20  Avril  1827  jnsqu''ati  9 
0  I..  1831,  4  vol.,  1839.  — Finlay,  George:  A  History  of  Greece  from 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  583 


the  Conquest,  by  the  Bomans  to  the  Present  Time,  7  vol.,  1877.  Authori- 
tative.    The  last  two  volumes  treat  of  the  nineteenth  century.  — Felton, 

C.  C.  :  Greece,  Ancient  and  Modern,  2  vol..  1867,  1  vol.,  1880.  Brilliant ; 
not  always  sound. — Tuckerman,  C.  K.  :  The  frreeks  of  To-day,  1873. 

—  Jebb,  R.  C.  :  Modern  Greece,  188U. — Campbell,  Hon.  Dudley: 
l^irks  and  Greeks,  1887. — Bickford-Smith,  R.  A.  H.  :  Greece  under 
King  George,  1893.  —  Samuelson,  J.  :  Greece :  Present  Condition  and 
Recent  Progress,  1894.  —  Rose,  W.  K.  :  With  the  Greeks  in  Thessaly, 
1897. —  Palmer,  P.:  Going  to  War  in  Greece,  1898. — German  Staff 
Officer:  Grteco-Turkish  War  of  1897.  From  Official  Sources,  1898. 
(Translated  from  the  German.) — Guerber,  H.  A.:  The  Story  of  the 
Greeks,  1898.  —  Sergeant,  Lewis:  Greece  in  the  Nineteenth  Century, 
1898.  Valuable.  —  For  the  troubles  in  Crete  and  the  events  that  have 
followed  from  them,  consult  Current  History,  Hazell's  Amiual,  and  the 

political  Reviews. 

RUMANIA 

Vaillant,  J.  A.  :  La  Romanie,  3  vol.,  1845.  —  Samuelson,  J.  :  Rou- 
mania.  Past  and  Present,  1882.  — De  Laveleye,  The  Balkan  Peninsula. 

—  Blaramberg :  Essai  sur  les  institutions  de  la  Roumanie,  1885. — 
Whitman.  Sidney  :  Reminiscences  of  the  King  of  Roumania,  1899. 

For  Documents,  consult  Petrescu  et  Stourdza  :  Actes  et  documents 
relatifs  «  Vldstoire  de  la  regeneration  de  la  Roumanie,  7  vol.,  1889-92. 

BULGARIA 

St.  Clair,  S.  G.  B.,  and  Brophy,  C.  A.  :  Twelve  Years'  Study  of  the 
Eastern  Question  in  Bulgaria,  1877.  —  Clark,  E.  L.  :  The  Races  of 
European  Turkey:  Their  History,  Condition,  and  Prospects,  1879. — 
Kanitz,  P.  :    La  Bulgarie  Damibienne  et  le  Balkan,  1860-80,  1882. 

—  Huhn,  Major  A.  von  :  The  Struggle  of  the  Balkans  for  National  In- 
dependence under  Prince  Alexander,  1886.  — Koch,  A.  :  Prince  Alexan- 
der of  Battenherg,  1887.  — Samuel:.on,  J.  :  Bulgaria  Past  and  Present, 
1888.  • — Lamouche,  L.  :  La  Bulgarie  dans  le  passe  et  le  ptresent,  1892.  — 
Dicey.  E.  :  The  Peasant  State.     An  Account  of  Bulgaria  in  1894,  1894. 

—  Beaman,  A.  Hulme:  M.  Stamhuhiff,  1895.  In  "Public  Men  of 
To-day  "  ;  Tventy  Years  in  the  Near  East,  1898.  — Draudar,  A.  :  Les 
iSvenements  politiques  en  Bulgarie  depuis  1876  jusqu'^a  nos  jours,  1896. 

—  Ripley.  William  Z.  :  The  Races  of  Europe,  1899.  Useful  for  the 
whole  Balkan  Peninsula,  Austria-Hungary,  aud  all  countries  where  the 
race  problem  is  perplexing. 

MONTENEGRO 

Wilkinson,  Sir  Gardner:  Dalmatia  and  Montenegro,  1848. — An- 
dric,  M.  :  (reschichte  des  FUrstoitlnims  Montenegro,  1853.  —  Delarue, 
H.  :  Le  Montenegro,  1862.  —  Denton,  Rev.  W.  :  Montenegro :  Its  Peo- 
ple and  Their  History,  1877.  —  For  recent  developments  and  present 
conditions,  consult  article  in  The  Fortnightly  Review  (70  :  911)  by  J. 

D.  Bouchier. 


584  BIBLIOGRAPHY 


TURKEY 

Zinkeisen,  J.  W.  :  Geschichie  des  osmanischen  Beichs  in  Europa,  1 
vol.,  1840-63.  —  Creasy,  Sir  Edward  S.  :  History  of  the  Ottoman 
Turks,  1877.     Favorable  to  the  Turks,  but  an  excellent  historical  outline. 

—  Dunn,  A.  J.  :  71ie  Rise  and  Decay  of  Islam,  1877.  — Baker,  James: 
Turkey,  1877. — Freeman,  E.  A.  :  21ie  Ottoman  Power  in  Europe,  1877. 
Indispensable  for  a  thorough  understanding  of  the  Eastern  Question.  — 
Amicis,  E.  de :  Constantinople,  1878. — MacColl,  Malcolm:  The 
Sultan  and  the  Powers,  1896.  —Thomson,  H.  C.  :  The  Outyoiny  Turk, 
1897.  —  Stevens,  "W.  S.  :  With  the  Conquering  Turk,  1897.— For  the 
Armenian  Massacres  and  other  recent  developments,  consult  the  Annuals 
and  the  political  Reviews. 

RUSSIA 

Bell,  R.  A.  :    A  History  of  Bussia,  3  vol.,  1836.  —  Schnitzler,    J. 

H. :  Secret  History  of  the  Court  and  Government  of  Russia  under  the 
Emperors  Alexander  and  Nicholas,  2  vol.,  1847.  —  Schuyler,  Eugene. 
Turkestan  :  Notes  of  a  Journey  in  Russian  Turkestan,  Khokand,  Bukhara, 
and  Kuldja,  2  vol.,  1876.  —  Wallace,  Mackenzie  :  Bussia,  1877.  A 
careful  study.  —  Rambaud,  Alfred :  The  History  of  Bussia  from  the  Ear- 
liest Times  to  1S77,  2  vol.,  1878.  The  best  of  the  histories.  — Lansdell, 
H.  :  Bussian  Central  Asia,  1885.  —  Stepniak  :  Underground  Bussia, 
1885  ;  Bussia  and  the  Tsars,  1885  ;  The  Bussian  Peasantry,  1888.  Step- 
niak's  v?orks  are  important  as  giving  the  Nihilist's  point  of  view  ;  but  the 
intensely  partisan  spirit  which  they  display  renders  them  untrustworthy. 

—  Czartoryski,  Prince  Adam  G.  :  Memoirs  and  his  Correspondence 
with  Alexander  I.,  2  vol.,  1888.  Prince  Czartoryski  (born  1770,  died 
1861)  was  a  Polish  patriot,  who  lived  under  five  Russian  sovereigns  and 
held  high  office  under  Alexander  I.  His  Memoirs  are  interesting  and 
valuabje.  —  Kennan,  George:  Siberia  and  the  Exile  System,  1891. — 
Morfil,  W.  R.  :  Poland.  In  the  Story  of  the  Nations  series,  1893.  — 
Leroy-Beaulieu,  Anatole:  The  Empire  of  the  Tsars  and  the  Bussians, 
3  vol.,  1893-96.  The  best  general  work.  —  Lowe,  Charles:  Alex- 
ander III.  of  Bussia,  1895.  — Krapotkin,  P.  :  Memoirs  of  a  Bevolution- 
ist,  1899.  Valuable,  but  like  the  works  of  Stepniak,  to  be  read  with 
caution.  —  Vladimir  :  Bussia  on  the  Pacific  and  the  Siberian  Bailway, 
1899.  — Bookwalter,  J.  W.  :  Siberia  and  Central  Asia,  1899.  —  Skrine, 
F.  H.,  and  Ross,  E.  D.  :  The  Heart  of  Asia,  1899.  —Fisher,  J.  R.  : 
Finland  and  the  Tsars,  1899. — Bulletin  Russe. — Russian  Journal  of 
Financial  Statistics.     To  be  begun  in  September,  1900. 

GERMANY 

SOURCES :  Consult  Quellenkunde  der  Deutschen  Geschichte  ; 
Seignobos,  Ilistoire  Politique,  pp.  378,  431,  459,  492;  and  H.  Morse 
Stephens  :  Lectures  on  Modern  History,  pp.  247,  273. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  585 


HISTORIES:  ESSAYS:  Menzel,  Wolfgang:  The  History  of 
German II  from  the  Earliest  Period  to  the  Present  Time,  3  vol.,  1849. — 
Van  Deventer,  M.  L.  :  Clnquante  Annees  de  V Illstoire  Federate  de 
VAllemag-ne,  1870. — Rustow,  W.  :  The  War  for  the  lihine  Frontier, 
3  vol.,  1871-72.  — Droysen,  J.  G.  :  Geschichte  der  Preussischen  Politik, 
8  vol.,  1808-7(5. — Seeley,  J.  R.  :  Life  and  Times  of  Stein,  2  vol.,  1879. 

—  Pressens^,  E.  de  :  Contemporary  Poiiralts,  1880.  Contains  an  ex- 
cellent article  on  the  Cultui'kainpf. — Hahn,  L.  :  Geschichte  des  Kul- 
tnrkampfes  in  PreAissen,  1881.  Protestant.  —  Schulte,  F.  X. :  Geschichte 
des  ludturkampfes  in  Preussen,  1882.  Catholic.  —  James,  E.  J.:  The 
Federal  Constitution  of  Germany  (translation),  1890. — Wenzel,  John: 
Comparative  View  of  the  Execntive  and  Legislative  Departments  o/  the 
Governmoits  of  the  United  States,  France,  England,  and  Germany,  1891. 

—  Geffcken,  F.  H.  :  The  Unity  of  Germany  (English  Historical  Re- 
view, 1891,  p.  209).- — Moltke,  Count  von:  The  Franco-German  War, 
1870-71,  1893. — Sybel,  H.  von:  Die  BegrWndung  des  Deutschen 
Relchs,  7  vol.,  1890-94.  Important.  —  English  translation  in  1898. — 
BigeloTAT,  Poultney  :  History  of  the  German  Struggle  for  Liberty,  2  vol., 
I89(i.  — Baring-Gould,  S.  :  Germany,  Past  and  Present,  1879.  — Whit- 
man, Sidney  :  Lnperlal  Germany,  1889. 

MEMOIRS  ;  BIOGRAPHIES  :  Ernest  II.,  Duke  of  Saxe  Coburg- 
Gotha :  Memoirs,  2  vol.,  1888.  —  Simon,  E.  :  VEmpereur  Gnlllaame, 
189G  ;  Hlstolre  du  Prince  de  Bismarck,  1887.  — Lowe,  Charles:  Life  of 
Prince  Bismarck,  2  vol.,  1888.  Laudatory.  — Busch,  Moritz  :  Bismarck  : 
Some  Secret  Pages  of  his  History,  3  vol.,  1898. — Bismarck,  The  Man 
and  the  Statesman,  2  vol.,  1899.  Composed  from  Bismarck's  own  writings. 
^Stearns,  F.  P.  :   Life  of  Prince  Otto  von  Bismarck,  1899.     Apologetic. 

—  Marcks,  Erich:  Kaiser  Wilhelm  I.,  1899. — Andler,  Charles:  Le 
Prince  de  Bismarck,  1899.  Excellent. — Headlam,  J.  W.  :  Bismarck 
and  the  Foundation  of  the  German  Empire,  1900.  In  the  Heroes  of  the 
Nations  series. 

HOLLAND 

Carr,  Sir  John  :  A  Tour  through  Holland,  1807.  Important  for  the 
period  when  it  was  written.  —  Saussaye,  Chantepie  de  la  :  La  crlse 
rellgleuse  en  HoUande,  1800.  — Juste,  Th.  :  La  Sunlevement  de  HoUande 
et  la  Fondatlon  des  Pays-Bas,  1870.  —  Havard.  H.  :  In  the  Heart  of  Hd- 
land,  1880.  — Amicis.E.  de  :  Holland,  1883.  —  Ditchfi eld,  P.  H.':  The 
Church  In  the  Nethi-rlands.  1S92.  — Griffis,  W.  E.  :  The  American  in  Hol- 
land, 1899.  —  Meldrum.  David  S.  :  ILdland  and  the  Hollanders,  1899. 

For  the  Colonies,  consult  Boys,  H.  S.:  Some  Notes  on  Java  and  Its  A(f- 
mlnlstration  by  the  Dutch,  1892.- — Berg,  Van  dem  :  The  Financial  and 
Economical  Condition  of  Netherlands,  Lidla,  1895.  —  Cool,  W.  :  With 
the  Dutch  In  the  East,  1897. 

DENMARK 

Dunham,  S.  A.  :  History  of  Denmark,  Sweden,  and  Norway.  3  vol., 
1840. — Laing,  S.  :  Observations  on  the  Social  and  Political  State  of 


586  BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Denmark,  1852.  —  Gosch,  Charles  A.  :  Denmark  and  Germany  since 
1815,  1862.  —  Gallenga,  A.  :  The  Invasion  of  Denmark  in  1864,  2  vol., 
18(34. —Dicey,  E.  :  Scldeswig-Holstein  War,  2  vol.,  1804. — Ott6,  B. 
C.  :  Denmark  and  Iceland,  1881.  —  Sidgwick,  C.  S.  :  Denmark  (Story 
of  the  Nations),  1890.  — Martinet,  Caniille  :  La  Socialisme  en  Danemark, 
1893.  —  Baring-Gould,  S. :  Iceland,  its  Scenes  and  Sagas,  1873. 

For  Schleswig-Holstein  Question  consult  also  Quarterly  Review,  115  : 
236.  For  recent  history  use  Annual  Register,  Appleton's  Annual 
Cyclopaedia,  and  the  political  Reviews. 

SWEDEN  AND  NORWAY 

HISTORIES  :  Dunham's  Denmark,  Svjeden,  and  Norimy.  — Geijer, 
E.  G.,  and  Carlson,  F.  F.  :  Geschiclite  Schivedens,  5  vol.,  1844-75. 
Translated  from  the  Swedish.  The  standard  history. — Fryxell,  A.: 
History  of  Sweden,  2  vol.,  1844.  — Otte,  E.  C.  :  Scandinavian  History, 
1874.  —  Boyesen,  H.  H.  :  Nonvay  (Story  of  the  Nations),  1886. 

GENERAL  "WORKS:  Brown,  J .:  Northern  Courts,  2  vol.,  1818.— 
Laing.  S.  :  Jonrnal  of  a  Besidence  in  Norway,  1836.  —  Latham,  R.  G.  : 
Norway  and  the  Norwegians,  2  vol.,  1840.  —  Scott,  C.  H.  :  The  Danes 
and  Swedes,  1856.  — Brace,  C.  L.  :  The  Norse-Folk,  1857. —Taylor, 
J.  Bayard:  Northern  Travel,  1858.  —  Grosvenor,  E.  L.  M.  G.  :  Diary 
of  a  Tour  in  Sweden,  Norway,  and  Russia,  1879.  —  Du  Chaillu,  P.  B.  : 
The  Land  of  the  llidnight  Sun,  2  vol.,  1881.  — Keary,  C.  F.  :  Norway 
and  the  Norwegians,  1892. — Baker,  Sarah  S.  Tuthill  :  Pictures  of 
Swedish  Life,  1894. 

For  the  recent  troubles  between  Sweden  and  Norway  consult  the 
Annuals  and  Reviews. 

SWITZERLAND 

BIBLIOGRAPHY,  DOCUMENTS,  AND  SOURCES  :  Consult 
Dandliker's  Geschichte  der  Schweiz  ;  and  Seignobos  :  Histoire Politique, 
etc.,  p.  266. 

HISTORIES  AND  OTHER  "WORKS  :  Morin,  A.  :  Precis  de 
I' Histoire  Politique  de  la  Suisse,  5  vol.,  1855-75.  A  scholarly  work. — 
Dandliker,  Carl  :  Geschichte  der  Schweiz,  3  vol.,  1895.  The  standard 
history  ;  and  Short  History  of  Switzerland,  1898.  The  best  brief  history. 
—  Moses,  Bernard  :  Federal  Government  of  Sivitzerland,  1889.  A  care- 
fvd  and  discriminating  study.  —  Adams,  Sir  F.  A.,  and  Cunningham, 
C.  D.  :  The  Swiss  Confederation,  1889. —Dawson,  "W.  S.  :  Social 
Switzerland,  1897. — Deploige,  Simon:  The  lieferendum  in  Switzer- 
land, 1898. 

GREAT   BRITAIN 

SOURCES :  Hansards  Debates.  —  The  Annual  Register.  — 
Hertslet  (Compiler),  British  and  Foreign  State  Papers:  1838-72, 

.36  vol.,  1856-79.  — Also  Government  Publications  on  Administrations, 
Finance,   Arbitration,    Colonial  Rule,    etc.  —  Speeches,    Letters,   and 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  587 


other  Writings  of  eminent  statesmen.  — Hazell's  Annual  contains  eacli 
year  a  fnll  summary  of  parliamentary  legislation. 

HISTORIES  :  (1)  GENERAL  :  Green,  J.  R.  :  History  of  the  Eng- 
lish People,  4  V(j1..  1878-80  ;  also  SIloH  History  of  the  English  People,  in 
one  volume.  — Bright,  F.  :  English  History  for  the  Use  of  Public  Schools, 
3  vol.,  1878.  —  Gardiner,  S.  R.  :  Student'' s  History  of  England,  3  vol., 
1890-!)!. 

(2)  SPECIAL:  Martineau,  Harriet :  The  History  of  England,  1801- 
54.  4  vol.,  1864.  Spirited;  interesting;  not  judicial. — Molesworth, 
W.  N.  :   77te  History  of  England,  1830-74,  3  vol.,  1874;  abridged  ed., 

1  vol.,  1887.  Political. — "Walpole,  Spencer:  A  History  of  England 
from  the  Conrlnsion  of  the  Great  War  in.  1S15,  3  vol.,  1878-80.  Revised 
ed.,  1890.  —  McCarthy,  Justin H.  :  A  History  of  Our  Own  Times,  2  vol., 
1878-80.  Interesting,  but  diffuse  and  unscientific.  —  Escott,  T.  H.  S.  : 
England;  Her  People,  Polity,  and  Pnrsuits,  1880.  Gives  interesting 
pictures  of  English  customs,  manners,  and  institutions.  —  Ward,  T. 
Humphrey  (Editor)  :   The  Beign  of  Queen  Victoria,  by  various  writers, 

2  vol.,  1887.  —  Traill,  H.  D.  (Editor)  :  Social  England,  6  vol.,  1893-97. 
Vol.  VI.  covers  the  nineteenth  century. — Oman,  C.  W.  :  England  in 
the  Nineteenth  Century,  1899.  —  Kent,  C.  B.  Roylance :  The  English 
Badirals,  1899. 

(3)  CONSTITUTIONAL  :  Creasy,  Sir  Edward  :  The  Pise  and 
Progress  of  the  English  Constittition,  1855.  —  May,  Sir  Thomas 
Erskine  :  The  Constitutional  History  of  England  since  the  Accession  <f 
Gearge  the  Third,  new  ed.,  2  vol.,  1880.  Judicial;  scholarly.  —  Amos, 
Sheldon  :  Fifty  Years  of  the  English  Constitution,  1830-80,  1880.  — 
Bagehot,  Walter :  Essays  on  Parliamentary  Peform,  1884  ;  The  Eng- 
lish Constitution  and  Other  Essays,  1885.  Bagehot's  writings  are  of  prime 
importance. — Gneist,  Rudolph:  History  of  the  English  Constitution, 
new  ed.,  1891;  History  of  the  English  Parliament,  third  ed.,  1891. — 
Dickinson,  G.  L.  :  The  Development  <f  Parliament  during  the  Nine- 
teenth Century,  1895.  —  Smith,  Gold-win:  The  United  Kingdom.  A 
Political  History,  2  vol..  is;i;). 

BIOGRAPHIES  ;  SPEECHES  ;  WRITINGS  :i  Camiing,  George: 
Select  Speeches,  1842. — Stratford-Canning,  Viscount :  Life  anxl  Cor- 
respondence of,  S.  Lane  Poole.  2  vol.,  1888.  —  Palmerston,  Viscount: 
Life  and  Correspondence  of ,  Hon.  Evelyn  Ashley.  2  vol.,  1879.  —  Rus- 
sell, Earl  John  :  Selections  from  Speeches  and  Despatches,  2  vol.,  1870.  — 
Greville,  Charles  C.  F.  :  Memoirs  of  the  Reigns  of  King  George  IV.  and 
King  William  IV.,  3  vol.  (also  2  vol.),  1875;  Beign  of  Queen  Victoria, 
1837-52,  3  vol.,  1885  ;  continued,  1852-60,  2  vol., 'l887.  — Shaftesbury, 
Earl  of:  Life  of,  by  Edwin  Hodder,  3  vol.,  1886;  1  vol.,  1887.     Lord 

1  The  names  under  this  head  are  placed  chronologically,  in  the  order  of 
birth.  The  names  of  tlie  statesmen  are  given  before  those  of  the  authors  of 
their  lives,  both  for  convenience'  sake  and  because  the  biographies  are,  as  a 
rule,  comiKised  largely  of  extracts  from  speeches  and  letters,  and  are  thus,  in 
reality,  autobiographies. 


588  BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Shaftesbury's  career  has  a  special  importance  on  account  of  his  exertions 
in  behalf  of  the  workinginen.  — •  Cobden,  Richard  :  Life  of,  by  John 
Morley,  1883. — Disraeli,  Benjamin,  Earl  of  Beaconsfield  :  Selected 
Speeches,  2  vol.,  1882. — Gladstone,  W.  E.  :  Life  of,  by  G.  Barnett 
Smith,  2  vol.,  1879  ;  Life  of  by  Thomas  Archer,  4  vol.,  1883  ;  The  Politi- 
cal Life  of,  3  vol.,  1897. — Bright,  John:  Life  and  Speeches  of,  by 
G.  Barnett  Smith,  2  vol. ,  1889.  —  Loftus,  Lord  Augustus :  The 
Diplomatic  Beminiscences  of,  1837-62,  4  vol.,  1892.  —  Salisbury, 
Marquis  of  :  Life  and  Speeches  o/',  by  F.  S.  Pulling,  2  vol.,  1886. 

THE  IRISH  QUESTION  :  Jervis,  H.  J.  W.  :  Ireland  under  British 
Bide,  1868.  —  Murphy,  J.  N. :  L-eland :  Indnstrial,  Political,  and  Social, 
1870. — Fisher,  J.:  Llistory  of  Landholding  in  Ireland,  1877.  —  Sulli- 
van, A.  M.  :  New  Ireland,  1878.  —  Smith,  G.  :  Irish  History  and  Irish 
Character,  1880. — Walsh,  W.  J.  C.  :  Plain  Exposition  of  the  Irish 
Land  Act  of  1881,  1881.  —  O'Brien,  R.  B.  :  The  Irish  Land  Question 
and  English  Priblic  Opinion,  new  ed.,  1881  ;  Fifty  Years  of  Concessions 
to  Ireland,  1831-81,  2  vol.,  1883-85.  —McCarthy,  J.  H.  :  Ireland  since 
the  Union,  1887. —  Daryll,  Philippe:  Ireland'' s  Disease,  1888.  Gives 
the  impressions  of  one  who  visited  and  studied  Ireland  when  the  Land 
League  was  most  active.  —  Steele,  Sarah  L. :  The  Bt.  Hon.  31.  A.  Kava- 
nagh,  1891.  The  life  of  a  man  who  was  a  leader  among  the  Irish  gentry 
in  their  struggle  with  the  peasantry.  —  Chamberlain,  Richard  :  Speeches 
on  the  Irish  Land  Questio7i  hetvjeen  1887  and  1890,  1891.  In  opposition 
to  the  Irish  Nationalists. — Lloyd,  Clifford:  Ireland  under  the  Land 
League,  1892.  The  narrative  of  a  magistrate  who  opposed  the  League 
with  great  energy. — Argyll,  Duke  of:  Irish  Nationalism;  An  Appeal 
to  History,  1893.  Against  Home  Rule.  — Dicey,  A.  V.  :  ^  Leap  in  the 
Dark:  or  Our  New  Constitution,  1893. — Keimedy,  T.  :  A  History  of 
the  Irish  Protest  against  Over- Taxation  from  1853  to  1897,  1898. 


THE  COLONIES 

GENERAL  WORKS  :  The  Colonial  Year  Book.  —Lucas,  C.  P.  : 

Historical  Geography  of  the  British  Colonies,  4  vol.,  1888. — Seeley, 
J.  R.  :  The  Expansion  of  England,  1883 ;  Growth  of  British  Policy, 
1895.  — Dilke,  Sir  Charles:  Problems  of  Greater  Britain,  1891.— 
Lewis,  Sir  George  Cornewall :  An  Essay  on  the  Governmeiit  of  Depend- 
encies, 1891.  —  Demolins,  Edmond  :  Anglo-Saxon  Superiority,  1898. 
—  Gorren,  Aline:  Anglo-Saxons  and  Others,  1900.  —  Sheowing,  Will- 
iam (Editor),  British  Empire  Series.  In  course  of  publication.  Im- 
portant. 

CANADA:  Kingsford,  W.  :  The  History  of  Canada.  10  vol.,  1888-98. 
Vol.  VII.  to  X.  deal  with  the  nineteenth  century.  —  McMullen,  J.  M.  : 
The  History  of  Canada,  2  vol.,  3  ed.,  1892.  —  Douglas,  James: 
Canadian  Independence,  1894.  —  Parkin,  G.  R.  :  The  Great  Dominion: 
Studies  of  Canada,  1895.- — Roberts,  C.  D.  G.  :  A  History  of  Canada, 
1897.  —  Handbook  of  Canada,  Lssued  by  the  British  Association  for  the 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  589 


Advancement  of  Science,  Toronto,  1897.  Carefully  compiled  by  competent 
authorities.  Valuable. — Lefroy,  A.  H.  F.  :  The  Law  of  Legislative 
Poiver  in  Canada,  1898.  —  Kennedy,  Ho-ward  A.:  Canada.  In  the 
Story  of  the  Empire  series.  — Morgan,  H.  J.  :  Canadian  Men  and  Wamen 
of  the  Time.,  1898.  Dominion  Annual  Register  and  Review.  Annual 
Reports  of  the  Various  Government  Departments. 

AUSTRALIA:  (1j  GENERAL:  Trollope,  Anthony :  Australasia 
and  New  Zealand,  1873.  —  Rusden,  G.  W.  :  The  History  of  Australia, 
3  vol.,  1883. —Epps,  W.  :  The  Land  Sijstem  of  Australia,  1894.— 
Jenks,  E.  :  The  Australian  Colonies  from  their  Fonndation  to  the  Year 
1S93,  189").  — Laurie,  J.  S. :  The  Story  <f  Australasia,  1890.  —  Garran, 
R.  R. :  The  Coming  Cummon:mcaUh,  l!-s97. — Walker,  H.  de  R.  :  Aus- 
tralasian Democracy,  1897.  —  Shaw,  Flora  L.  :  Australia.  In  the  Story 
of  the  Empire  series.  Greville,  Hon.  Edv^ard  (Editor)  :  "The  Year- 
Book  of  Australia.  Publishetl  annually.- — For  the  question  of  Federa- 
tion, consult  The  Statesman's  l>ce/'-i>oo/i:  under  Australia  ;  The  Quarterly 
Beview,  190  :  289  ;  Political  Science  Quarterly,  14  :  003  ;  and  otlier  x'eviews 
and  magazines. 

(2)  SPECIAL  :  Parkes,  Sir  H.  :  Fifty  Years  in  the  Making  of  Aus- 
tralian History,  2  vol.,  1892. — Roydhouse,  T.  R.  :  The  Labour  Party 
in  New  South  Wales,  1892.  —  Hutchinson,  F.  :  Neto  South  Wales:  the 
Mother  Colony  (f  the  Anstralias,  ]S9(!. 

Russell,  H.  S.  :  The  Genesis  of  Queensland,  1888.  —  Weedon,  T.  : 
Quei'usland  Past  and  Present,  1890. 

Hodder,  Edwin:  The  History  of  South  Atistralia,  2  vol.,  1893. — 
Blackmore,  E.  G.  :  The  Law  of  the  Constitution  of  Sotith  Australia,  1894. 

Fenton,  James:  History  of  Tasmania,  1894. — Johnston,  R.  M.  : 
Handbook  of  Tasmania,  annual. 

Bannow,  W.  :   The  Colony  of  Victoria,  1897. 

Calvert,  A.  T.  :  Western  Australia :  Its  IL'story  and  Prorjress,  1894. 
^Memiell,  P.  :   T/ie  Com.ing  Colony,  1894. 

Consult  also  the  Annual  Blue  Book  and  Statistical  Begister,  published 
by  oaoh  Colony. 

NEW  ZEALAND  :  TroUope's  Australasia  and  Neio  Zealand.  — 
Wakefield,  E.  :  New  Zealand  after  Fifty  Years,  1889.  —  Gisborne  : 
77/r  C(d(>ny  of  New  Zealand,  1891  ;  New  Zealand  Bttlers  and  Statesmen, 
1844-07,  1897. —Rees.  W.  L.  :  T/ie  Life  and  limes  of  Sir  George 
Grey,  1892.  Valuable  also  for  Australia  and  South  Africa.  —  Rusden, 
G.  W.  :  The  History  of  New  Zealand,  new  ed.,  3  vol.,  1890.  —  New 
Zealand,  in  the  Story  of  the  Empire  .series,  1898. — Annual  Statistical 
Begister.  —  Nev^  Zeala)id  Officiid  Year-Book. 

SOUTH  AFRICA:  Trollope,  Anthony:  So^ith  Africa,  2  vol.,  1878. 
—  Statham,  F.  R.  :  Jilacks,  JJocrs  and  Jlritish,  1881  ;  South  Africa  As 
It  Is,  1897  ;  Paul  Kruger  and  His  Times,  1898. — Norris.  Newman  C.  L. : 
With  the  Borrs  in  the  Transvaal  and  Orange  Free  State  in  ISSO-Sl, 
1882.  — "Weber.  Ernest  de  :  Quatre  aiis  au  pays  des  Boers,  1882.  —  Theal, 
Geoige  McCall :  History  (f  the  Boers  in  South  Africa,  1887  ;  History  of 


590  BIBLIOGRAPHY 


South  Africa,  5  vol.,  1888-93  ;  South  Africa  (Story  of  the  Nations),  1897. 

—  Molteno.  P.  A.:  A  Federal  South  Africa,  1890.  — Regan.  "W.  F.:  Boer 
and  Uitlauder ;  the  True  History  of  the  Late  Events  in  South  Africa,  1896. 

—  Withers,  H.:  The  English  and  the  Dutch  in  South  Africa;  an  Histor- 
ical Betrospect, 1896. —Schieiner.  Olive:  The  Political  Situation  (in 
Cape  Colony),  1890;  The  Sauth  African  Question,  1899. — Campbell, 
C.  T.  :  British  South  Africa,  1795-1825,  1897. —  Garrett,  T.  E.,  and 
Edwards.  E.  J.  :   The  Story  of  an  African  Crisis  (Jameson  raid),  1897. 

—  Hammond,  Natalie:  A  Woman\^  Part  in  a  Bevolution,  1897. — 
Bryden,  H.  A.  :  The  Victorian  Era  in  South  Africa,  1897.  —  MacNab, 
F. :  On  \'elt  and  Farm  in  Cape  Colony,  Bechuanaland,  Natal,  and  the 
Transvaal,  1897.  —  Wilmot,  A.  :  The  Story  of  the  Expansion  of  South- 
ern Africa,  2  ed.,  1897  ;  History  of  Our  Own  Times  in  South  Africa,  2 
vol..  1898. —Nicholson.  G.  :  Fifty  Years  in  South  Africa.  i898. — 
Bigelow,  Poultney:  White  Ma'n's  Africa,  1 898.  —  Stanley ,  H.  N.  : 
Throxtgh  South  Africa,  1898.  — Yovuighusband,  F.  E.  :  Soiith  Africa  of 
To-day,  1898.- — Thomson,  H.  C.  :  lihodesia  and  Its  Government,  1898. 

—  Johnston.  Sir  H.  :  The  Colonisation  of  South  Africa,  1899.  —  Hil- 
legas,  H.  C.  :  Oom  PauVs  People,  1899.  — Bryce,  James:  Impressions 
of  South  Africa,  new  ed.  in  1899,  with  a  review  of  the  troubles  between 
the  Boers  and  the  British.  Article  on  this  question  by  the  same  author  in 
the  North  American  Beview,  109:  737. — Devereux,  Roy:  Side  Lights 
on  South  Africa,  1900.  —  Brown.  W.  H.  :  On  tlie  South  African  Fron- 
tier, 1900.  —  Stickney.  Albert :  The  Transvaal  Outlook,  1900.  —Hob- 
son,  J.  A.  :  The  War  in  South  Africa :  its  Causes  and  Effects,  1900.  — 
Monthly  Bulletin  of  the  Boston  Public  Library,  December,  1899, 
gives  a  complete  bibliography  of  the  South  African  Question,  with  a 
list  of  the  British  State  Papers  that  bear  on  the  subject,  from  1876  to 
1899. 

EGYPT  (not  a  colony  with  responsible  government,  but  a  vital  point 
in  the  British  Empire)  :  Milner.  Sir  Alfred  :  England  in  Egypt,  1894. 
Of  special  value  and  importance.  —  Slatin  Pasha :  Fire  and  Svjord  in 
the  Sudan,  1895.  —  Alford.  H.  S..  and  Sword,  W.  D.  :  The  Egyptian 
Sudan:  Its  Loss  and  Becovery,  1898.  —  Cameron,  D.  A.  :  Egypt  in  the 
19th  Century,  1898.  —  Schweitzer.  G.  :  Eniin  Pasha:  His  Life  and 
Work,  2  vol.,  1898.  —  Stevens,  G.  W.  :  With  Kitchener  to  Khartum, 
1898.  —Bennett,  E.  A.  :  The  Doicnfall  of  the  Dervislies,  1899.  — Wors- 
fold,  W.  Basil :  The  Bedemption  of  Egypt,  1899.  —  Churchill,  W.  S.  : 
The  Biver  War.  An  Account  of  the  Be-conquest  of  the  Sudan,  1899. — 
White,  A.  S  :  The  Expansion  of  Egypt,  1900. 

THE  UNITED  STATES 

SOURCES  :  The  Journals  of  Congress  from  1774  to  1788,  4  vol., 
1823.  —  Reports  of  the  Debates  in  the  National  Convention  of  1787. 

A  diary  kept  by  James  Madison,  3  vol.,  1840;  1  vol.,  1893. — The 
Debates  in  the  Several  State  Conventions  on  the  Adoption  of  the 
Federal  Constitution,  with  other  important  documents.     Collected  by 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  591 


Jonathan  Eliot,  5  vol.,  1801.  — Annals  of  Congress,  42  vol.,  1834-56. 
Period  1789  to  May,  1824  ;  The  Register  of  Debates,  29  vol.  Period 
December,  1824,  to  October.  1887  ;  Congressional  Globe,  108  vol. 
Period  1837  to  1872  ;  Congressional  Record.  Period  1872  to  the  pres- 
ent. ^ —  The  Federal  and  State  Constitutions,  Colonial  Charters,  and 
Other  Organic  Laws  of  the  United  States.  Collected  by  Benjamin 
Perley  Poore,  2  vol.,  1877-78.  —  Treaties  and  Conventions  betw^een 
the  United  States  and  Other  Powers.  177(5-1887.  Printed  by  the 
United  States  Government  in  1889. — Messages  and  Papers  of  the 
Presidents,  1789  to  January  1,  1899,  10  vol.,  with  a  valuable  index.  An 
important  collection.  —  Government  publications  concerning  Arbitra- 
tion and  all  other  important  political  questions. 

HISTORIES  :  (1)  GENERAL  :  Bancroft,  George  :  History  of  the 
United  States  to  the  Close  of  the  Bevolutiunary  War,  10  vol.,  1834-74  ; 
and  6  vol.,  revised,  1876.  Learned  and  interesting,  but  barely  touching 
upon  the  period  covered  by  the  present  volume.  —  Hildreth,  Richard 
G.  :  History  of  the  United  States  from  the  Discovery  of  America  to  the  End 
of  the  Sixteenth  Congress,  0  vol.,  new  ed.,  1879.  Sound,  but  dry. — 
Tucker,  George:  Tlie  History  of  the  United  States  from  their  Coloniza- 
tion to  the  End  of  the  Twenty-sixth  Congress  in  1S41,  4  vol.,  1860.  Inter- 
esting as  giving  the  Southern  point  of  view.  —  McMaster,  John  Bach  : 
A  History  of  the  People  of  the  United  States,  5  vol.,  1883-1900.  Not  com- 
pleted.—  Winsor,  Justin  (Editor)  :  yar ratine  and  Critical  History  of 
America,!  yo\.,  1888.  ^Nlore  critical  than  narrative.  Bibliographies  com- 
plete and  valuable.  —Montgomery,  D.  H.  :  The  Students^  History  of 
the  United  States,  1897. — Channing,  Edward  :  Studenf  s  History  of  the 
United  States,  1898.  This  work  and  the  preceding,  though  single-volume 
histories,  are  not  mere  compendiums,  but  show  independence  of  view  and 
familiarity  with  original  sources. 

(2)  SPECIAL :  Schouler,  James  :  History  of  the  United  States, 
1783-1865,  6  vol.,  1880-99.  A  most  important  work  for  the  period  it 
covers.  —  Roosevelt,  Theodore-.  The  Winning  of  the  West,  4  vol., 
1889-96.  A  graphic  picture  of  the  conquest  and  occupation  of  new  land 
west  of  the  Appalachian  chain.  —  Fiske,  John  :  The  Critical  Period  of 
American  History,  1888. — Adams.  Henry:  History  of  the  United  States, 
1801-1817,  9  vol.,  1889-91.  The  best  work  for  this  period.  —  Goodell, 
William  :  Slavery  and  Antislavery,  3  ed.,  1855.  Dispassionate  ;  scien- 
tific. —  Wilson.  Henry:  Ilise  and  Fall  of  the  Slave  Power  in  America, 
4  ed.,  3  vol.,  isyo.  Less  fair  and  impartial  than  Goodell's  work. — 
Greeley,  Horace  :  The  American  Conflict,  2  vol.,  1864-67.  A  valuable 
study  of  the  causes  of  the  Civil  War.  Military  criticism  unsound.  — 
Count  of  Paris  :  History  of  the  Civil  War  in  America,  2  vol.,  1875-76. 
An  excellent  work,  but  never  completed.  —  Stephens,  Alexander  : 
The  War  between  the  States,  2  vol.,  1870.  — Davis,  Jefferson  :  The  liise 
and  Fall  of  the  Confederate  Government,  2  vol.,  1881. — Blaine, 
James  G.  :  Twenty  Years  of  Congress,  1861-1881,  2  vol.,  1884. — 
Rhodes,  James  Ford  :  History  of  the  United  States,  1850-1885.     Fourth 


592  BIBLIOGRAPHY 


volume,  ending  with  Lincoln's  reelection  in  18G4,  published  in  1899. 
Shows  wide  research  and  sound  historical  judgment. — Shaler,  N.  S. 
(Editor)  :  The  United  States,  2  vol.,  1894.  Valuable  monographs  upon 
a  variety  of  interesting  and  important  subjects.  —  Andrews,  E.  Benja- 
min :  The  History  of  the  Last  Quarter  Century  in  the  United  States, 
2  vol.,  1896.  Useful.  Gives  more  details  than  most  of  the  works  that 
treat  of  this  period.  —  Wise,  John  S.  :  The  End  of  an  Era,  1899.  The 
views  of  a  fair-minded  Southerner. 

(3)  CONSTITUTIONAL :  Benton,  Thomas  H.  :  Thirty  Years' 
View,  1820-1850,  2  vol.,  1854-56.  —Curtis,  George  Ticknor  :  History 
of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  2  vol.,  1854-58  ;  new  ed.,  1896. 
Considered  by  many  the  standard  work  on  the  subject  ;  but  its  treatment 
of  some  of  the  graver  political  problems,  particularly  those  arising  from 
slavery,  is  by  no  means  adequate.  —  Bancroft,  George :  History  of  the 
Formation  of  the  Constitution,  2  vol.,  1882. —  Hoist,  H.  von  :  The  Con- 
stitutional and  Political  History  of  the  United  States,  8  vol.,  1879-85  ; 
new  ed.,  1899.  A  searching  study  of  American  institutions.  More  pro- 
found and  suggestive  than  the  work  of  Curtis.  —  Smith,  Goldwin  :  The 
United  States:  a  Political  History,  1893.  — Stevens.  C.  Ellis  :  Sources 
of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  1894. — Bryce,  James:  The 
American  Commomoealth,  2  vol.,  3  ed.,  1895.     Of  foremost  importance. 

—  Thorpe,  F.  N.  :  The  Constitutional  History  of  the  American  People, 
1776-1850,  2  vol.,  1898.— Tucker,  John  Randolph  :  The  Constitution 
of  the  United  States,  1899.  Annual  Iteport  of  the  American  Historical 
Association,  1896,  Vol.  II.,  contains  an  important  monograph  on  pro- 
posed Amendments  to  the  Constitution.  With  the  Constitutional  His- 
tories should  be  studied  Professor  James  Bradley  Thayer's  Cases  on 
Constitutional  Law  ;  or  the  shorter  collection,  with  the  same  title,  by 
Carl  Evans  Boyd.  —  Henry  Hitchcock's  American  State  Constitutions, 
in  the  Questions  of  the  Day  series,  is  also  worthy  of  notice,  as  is  the 
Annual  Report  of  the  American  Bar  Association.  To  facilitate  the  use 
of  original  sources,  a  series  of  documents,  comprising  (1)  American 
Federal  Documents,  (2)  T7ie  American  Constitutions,  (3)  Foreign  Con- 
stitutions, has  been  arranged  by  F.  A.  Cleveland. 

COLLECTED  WORKS  ;  MEMOIRS  ;  JOURNALS  ;  BIOG- 
RAPHIES :  The  Federalist.  Essays  by  Alexander  Hamilton, 
James  Madison,  and  John  Jay,  for  the  most  part  originally  published 
in  the  Independent  Journal  of  New  York  in  1787  and  1788.  More  than 
twenty  editions  of  the  Federalist  have  been  published.  —  "Washington, 
George  :  The  Writings  of,  12  vol.,  1852.  Volumes  IX.-XIl.  useful.  — 
Adams.  John  :   Tlie  Works  of,  loith  a  Life  of  the  Author,  10  vol.,  1856. 

—  Jefferson,  Thomas  :  ITie  Writings  of,  10  vol.  New  edition  completed 
in  1899. — Hamilton,  Alexander:  Complete  Works,  8  vol.,  1888. — 
Madison,  James:  Letters  and  Other  Writings  of .  Published  by  order 
of  Congress,  4  vol.,  1865.  —Monroe,  James:  The  Writings  of,  Vol.  II. 
(to  1796),  1899.  — Clay,  Henry  :  The  Works  of  6  vol..  1855.  —Adams, 
John  Quincy  :  Memoirs  of,    12  vol.,    1874-77.  —  Calhoun,  John  C.  : 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  593 


The  Works  of,  6  vol.,  1854-56. —Webster,  Daniel:  The  Works  of, 
6  vol.,  1853-56.  —  Seward,  William  H.  :  The  Works  of,  4  vol.,  1853-62. 
Sumner,  Charles:  Works  of  12  vol.,  1875. — Garrison,  William 
Lloyd :  Life  of  1805-1879,  4  vol.,  1885.  A  noteworthy  contribution  to 
the  history  of  the  Antislavery  Movement.  — Lincoln,  Abraham:  Com- 
plete Works,  2  vol.,  1894  ;  Life  of  by  Nicolay  and  Hay,  10  vol.,  1890.  — 
Grant,  U.  S.  :  Personal  Memoirs  of,  2  vol.,  1885.  — Tilden,  Samuel  J.  : 
The  Wi'itings  and  Speeches  of  2  vol.,  1885.  — McCulloch,  Hugh:  Men 
and  Measures  of  Half  a  Centnnj,  1889.  — American  Statesmen  series. 
Thirty-second  volume  published  in  1900.     Valuable. 

FINANCE :  Government  Publications,  including  :  Annual  Reports 
of  the  ISecretary  of  the  Treasury,  the  Director  of  the  Mint,  and  the  Com- 
missioner of  Internal  Revenue ;  Annual  Reports  on  the  Internal  Com- 
merce of  the  United  States,  the  Foreign  Commerce  of  the  United  States, 
and  on  Statistics  of  Railways ;  Annual  Statement  of  the  Public  Debt  of 
the  United  States,  and  Quarterly  Reports  of  Statistics,  Bureau  on  Imports, 
Exports,  etc. — Gallatin,  Albert:  The  Writinys  of  3  vol.,  1879.  A 
valuable  commentary  on  the  earlier  financial  history  of  the  country.  — 
Elliot,  Orrin  Leslie :  The  Tariff  Controversy  in  the  United  States,  1 789- 
1833,  1892.  —  Bolles,  A.  S.  :  Financial  History  of  the  United  States, 
3  vol.,  1885. — Sherman,  John:  Speeches  and  Reports  on  Finance  and 
Taxation,  1879.  —  Thompson,  R.  W.  :  The  History  of  the  Protective 
Tariff  Laws,  1888.  Defends  protection. —Taussig,  F.  W.  :  Tariff  His- 
tory of  the  United  States,  1893.     A  fair  and  moderate  critic  of  protection. 

—  Rabbeno,  Ugo  :  The  American  Commercial  Policy,  1895.  Discusses 
leading  economic  writers.  A  scholarly  work.  — Laughlin,  J.  Laurence  : 
The  History  of  Bimetallism  in  the  United  States,  4  ed.,  1897. — Noyes, 
A.  D. :  Thirty  Years  of  American  Finance  (1865-96),  1898.  — Watson, 
D.  K. :  History  of  American  Coinage,  1899. 

COUNTRIES    ACQUIRED    OR    HELD    SINCE    THE    CIVIL    WAR 

Dall,  "W.  H.  :  Alaska  and  its  Resources,  1870. — Bruce,  Miner: 
Alaska,  1895.  —  Heilprin,  Angelo :  Alaska  and  the  Klondike,  1899. 

Callahan,  J.  M.  :  Cuhu  and  hiternational  Relations,  1899.  A  histori- 
cal monograph  of  great  value  in  the  study  of  the  Cuban  question.  — 
Porter,  R.  B.  :  Industrial  Cuba,  1899. — Matthews,  Franklin:  The 
Xcv^-Bnrn  Cuha,  1899.  Shows  what  American  rule  has  done. — Pepper, 
C.  M.  :   To-morrow  in  Cuba,  1899. 

Ober,  F.  A.:  Puerto  Rico  and  its  Resources,  1899. — Dinw^iddie, 
William :  Puerto  Rico,  Its  Conditions  and  Possibilities,  1899.  — 
Hamm,  Margherita  A.  :   Porto  Rico,  1899. 

Blackman,W.  F.  :  The  Makiin/  of  Ilavaii,  1899.  —  Young,  Lucien  : 
The  Rial  llawaii,  1899.  —  Carpenter.  E.  J.  :  America  in  Hawaii,  1899. 

—  Whitney,  Caspar:  Hawaiian  America,  1899. 

Worcester,  Dean  C.  :   The  PIdlippine  Islands,  1899. — Foreman.  J. 
G.  :    The  Philippine  Islands,  1899.  —  Lala,  Ramon  Reyes  :    I'he  Pliilip- 
pine  Islands,  1899.  — Bancroft,  H.  H. :   The  Neio  Pacific,  1900. 
2q 


594  BIBLIOGRAPHY 


The  literature  upon  these  countries  is  fast  multiplying,  but  is  very 
unsatisfactory,  and  should  be  read  with  great  caution.  Most  of  it  is  the 
record  of  hastily  formed  impressions,  and  is  written  in  an  extremely  parti- 
san spirit.  It  is  particularly  difficult  to  ascertain  the  truth  regarding 
Hawaii.  The  report  made  by  President  Cleveland's  commissioner  (Mr. 
Blount)  did  not  give  the  impression  that  its  author  carefully  weighed  the 
rights  of  the  Americans  as  well  as  those  of  the  native  islanders  ;  while 
almost  everything  that  has  since  been  written  on  the  subject  presents 
only  the  American  side.  But  a  monograph  by  Von  Hoist  on  "The 
Annexation  of  Hawaii"  should  be  carefully  read. 

MEXICO 

Hall,  Basil :  Extracts  from  a  Journal  v)ritten  on  the  Coasts  of  Chile, 
Peru,  and  Mexico  in  the  'Years  1820,  1821,  1822,  2  vol.,  1824.  — Flint, 
H.  M.  :  Mexico  under  Maximilian.  1S67.  — Bancroft,  H.  H.  :  History  of 
Mexico,  G  vol.,  188;J-85.— Wells,  David  A.  :  .4  Study  of  Mexico,  1887. 
Noll,  A.  H.  :  ^  Short  History  of  Mexico,  1890.— Blake,  U.  R.  :  Life 
of  Benito  Juarez,  1894. —  Butler,  J.  W. :  Sketches  of  Mexico,  1894.— 
Lummis,  C.  F.  :  The  Aicakening  of  a  Nation;  Mexico  of  To-day.  1898. 
—  Romero,  M.  :  Mexico  and  the  United  States,  1898.  The  most  valuable 
single  work  on  Mexico. — For  Mexico  and  all  the  Spanish  American 
countries  the  Bulletins  of  the  United  States  Bureau  of  American 
Republics  are  a  specially  important  source  of  information.  The  unceas- 
ing political  changes  that  occur  in  most  of  these  countries  are  recorded  in 
Current  History  and  Appleton's  Annual  Cyclopaedia. 

CENTRAL   AMERICA 

GENERAL:  Froebel,  Julius  :  Secen  Years''  Travel  in  Central  Amer- 
ica. 18->>.  —  Squier,E.  G.  :  Stales  of  Central  America,  1858.'  — Stephens, 
J.  S.  :  Incidents  of  Travel  in  Central  America,  2  vol.,  1867. — Belly, 
F^lix:  A  travels  V Amerique  centrale.  2  vol..  1872. — Bates,  H.  W.  : 
Central  and  South  America,  1882.  —  Bancroft.  H.  H.  :  History  of  Central 
America.  3  vol.,  1882-83.  — Avenel,  H.  :  U Amerique  Latine,  1892. 

SPECIAL:  Peralta,  Manuel  M.  :  Costa  Bica :  its  Climate,  Consti- 
tution, and  Resources,  1873.  —  Biolley,  P.  :  Costa  Bica  and  her  Future, 
1889.  — Calvo,  J.  B.  :  Bepuhlic  of  Costa  Bica,  1890.  —  Shroeder,  J.: 
Costa  Bicii  State  Immigration,  1894. 

Stoll,  Otto  :  Guatemala,  Beisen  und  Schilderungen  aus  den  Jahren 
1878-83,  1886.  —  Brigham,  T.  :    The  Land  of  the  Quetzal,  1887. 

Squier,  E.  G.  :  Honduras  :  Descriptive,  Historical,  Statistical,  1870. — 
Lombard,  Thomas  R.  :  The  Neiv  Honduras,  1887.  —  Charles,  C: 
Honduras,  1890. 

Squier,  E.  G. :  Nicaragua,  2  vol.,  1852. — Pector.  Desire:  Etude 
Economique  sur  la  Bepublique  de  Nicaragua,  1893.  —  Colquhoun,  A.  R. : 
The  Key  of  the  Pacific,  1895.  —  Niederlein,  G.  :  The  State  of  Nicaragua, 
1898. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  595 


SOUTH    AMERICA 

GENERAL  :  Windsor's  Narrative  and  Critical  History  of  America, 
Vol.  VIII.,  contains  a  full  bibliography  on  the  struggle  for  independence, 
p.  342  ;  and  an  account  of  the  struggle  on  p.  295.  —  Hackett,  James : 
Narrative  of  an  Expedition  which  sailed  from  England  in  2817  to  join 
the  South  American  Patriots,  1818.  — Holstein,  Ducoudray  :  Memoires 
de  S.  Bolivar,  1829.  English  translation,  1829.  Reviewed  by  Caleb 
Gushing  in  the  North  American  Review  for  January,  1829. — Miller, 
John  :  3Iemoirs  of  General  Miller  in  the  Service  of  the  Republic  of  Peru, 
1829.  — Dundonald.  Earl  of:  Narrative  of  Services  in  the  Liberation  of 
Chili,  Peru,  and  Brazil,  2  vol.,  1859.- — Hassaurek,  F.  :  Four  Years 
among  Spanish  Americans,  1867.  — Payne,  E.  J.  :  History  of  European 
Colonies,  1877.  Touches  upon  the  war  for  liberation.  More  scholarly 
than  most  works  on  South  America.  —  Watson,  R,  G. :  Spanish  and 
Purtnguese  Soiith  America  during  the  Colonial  Period,  2  vol.,  1884, 
"The  only  comprehensive  historical  worlt  on  the  whole  of  South  America." 

—  Vincent,  F,  :  Round  and  about  South  America,  1888  ;  Phe  Republics 
of  South  America,  1889,  —  Mitr^,  B,  :  Historia  de  Sa7i  Martin,  4  vol., 
1890  ;  The  Emancipation  of  South  America  (a  condensed  translation,  by 
VV.  Pilling,  of  the  history  of  San  Martin),  1893.  —Child,  Theodore  :  The 
Spanish  American  Republics,  1891.— Ford,  I.  N.  :  Tropical  America, 
1893.  —  Crawfurd,  R.  :   South  American  Sketches,  1898, 

SPECIAL:  Sarmiento,  D.  F. :  Life  in  the  Argentine  Republic  in 
the  Days  of  the  Tyrants,  18(58. —Turner,  T.  A.:  Argentina  and  the 
Argentines,  1892.  —  Akers,  C.  E.  :  Argentine,  Patagonian,  and  Chilean 
Sketches,  1893. 

Bonnelli,  L.  H,  de :  Trarels  in  Bolivia,  2  vol.,  1854. — Mathews, 
E.  D,  :  Up  the  Amazon  and  Madeira  Rivers,  through  Bolivia  and  Peru, 
1879. —Wiener,  Charles:  Peron  et  Bolivie,  1880. 

Dent,  J.  H,  :  .4  Year  in  Brazil,  1880.  —Wells,  J.  W.  :  TJiree  Thou- 
sand Miles  throiigh  Brazil,  1880. — Levasseur,  E.  :  Le  Bresil,  1889. — 
Araujo,  Oscar  d'  :  V Idee  Republicaine  au  Bresil,  1893. 

Markham,  C.  R.  :  The  War  between  Chile  and  Peru,  1879-81,  1883. 
Russell.  W.  H.  :  .1  Visit  to  Chile  and  the  Nitrate  Fields  of  Tarapacd, 
1890,  —  Hervey,  H.  M.  :  Dark  Days  in  Chile,  1892,  —Hancock,  A, 
M,  :  A  History  of  Chili,  1893. —Smith,  W.  Anderson:  Temperate 
Chile,  1899. —Hall,  Colonel  F,  :  Colombia:  Its  Present  State,  etc, 
1871, — Pereira,  R.  S,  :  Les  Etats-Unis  de  Colombie,  1883. — Nuiiez, 
R.,  and  Jahay,  H.  :  La  Republiqne  de  Colombie,  etc.,  1893.  —  Scruggs, 
"W.  L.  :  77«e  Colombian  and.  Venezuelan  Republics,  19(t0. — Fleming, 
B,  :  Wandei-ungen  in  Ecuador,  1872.  —  Church,  G,  E,  :  Ecmidor  in 
1881.  Report  to  the  United  States  Government.  —  Simson,  Alfred : 
Travels  in  the  Wilds  of  Ecuador,   1887. 

Masterman,  G.  F.  :  Seven  Ecentful  Years  in  Paraguay,  1809, — 
Kennedy,  A.  J,  :  La  Plata,  Brazil  and  Paraguay  during  the  War,  1809, 

—  Washburn,  C.  A.  :   'llie  History  of  Paraguay.      With  A'otes  of  Per- 


696  BIBLIOGRAPHY 


sonal  Observations,  2  vol.,  1871. — La  Dardye,  E.  de  B.  :  Paraguay: 
The  Land  and  the  People,  etc.,  1892. — Santos,  C.  R.  :  La  Republica 
del  Paraguay,  1897. 

Temple,  Edmond:  Travels  in  Various  Parts  of  Peru,  2  vol.,  1830.  — 
Fuentes,  Manuel  A.  :  Lima,  or  Sketches  of  the  Capital  of  Peru,  1866. 

—  Hutchinson,  T.  J.:  Two  Years  in  Peru,  1874.  —  Squier,  E.  G.  : 
Peru:  Liridents  of  Travels  and  E:eploration  in  the  Land  of  the  Incas, 
1877.  — Clark,  E.  JB. :  Twelve  Months  in  Peru,  1891.  —  Markham,  C.  R. : 
A  History  of  Peru,  1892. 

Murray,  Rev.  J.  H. :  Travels  in  Uruguay,  1871.  — Lomba.  R.  L.  : 
La  Republica  Oriental  del  Uruguay,  1884.  —  Rumbold,  Sir  H.  :  The 
Great  Silver  River,  1888. 

Dance,  C.  D.  :  Four  Years  in  Venezuela,  1876.  —  Spence,  J.  M.  : 
The  Land  of  Bolivar,  2  vol.,  1878. —  Curtis,  W.  E.  :    Veneziiela,  1896. 

—  Wood,  W.  E.  :  Venezuela;  or  Two  Years  on  the  Spanish  Main.  — 
The  Venezuela  Boundary  Question  is  best  studied  in  the  publications  of 
the  United  States  Government  upon  the  subject,  vfhich  will  include  the 
arguments  before  the  tribunal  which  met  at  Paris  on  June  15,  1899,  and 
published  its  award  on  October  3.  The  British  Blue  Books  may  also  be 
consulted.  The  Award  itself,  with  a  brief  review  of  the  case  and  ex- 
planatory maps,  may  be  found  in  Current  History,  Vol.  9,  p.  592.  Con- 
sult also  Scruggs's  Colombian  and  Venezuelan  Republics. 

South  American  politics  have  been  so  perturbed  that  they  have  seldom 
been  treated  by  able  historical  writers.  Professor  Bernard  Moses's  Tlie 
Establishment  of  Spanish  Rule  in  America  (1898)  is  a  scholarly  work  ;  but 
the  volumes  that  describe  the  varying  phases  of  South  American  life  and 
politics,  from  the  establishment  of  independence  to  the  present  day,  are 
mostly  superficial  in  character.  Extensive  use  should  be  made  of  the 
Bulletins  of  the  U.  S.  Bureau  of  American  Republics,  and  of  the  Annuals 
and  Magazines. 

LIBERIA 

Wilson,  J.  :  Western  Africa,  1856. —Hutchinson,  E.  :  Impressions 
of  Western  Africa,  1858.  —  Stockwell,  G.  S.  :  The  Republic  of  Liberia, 
1868.  —  Wauwermans.  Colonel  H.  :  Liberia,  histoire  de  la  fondation 
dhm  etat  negre  libre,  1885.  —  Blyden,  E.  W.  :  Christianity,  Islam,  and 
the  Negro  Race,  1887.  —  MacPherson,  J.  H.  T.  :  African  Colonization  : 
History  of  Liberia,  1891.     In  Johns  Hopkins  University  Studies. 


HAITI 

Handelmann,  J.  :  Geschichte  von  Haiti,  1856.  —  Bonneau,  A.  :  Haiti, 
sesproqr'es,  son  avenir,  1862.  — Janvier,  L.  J.  :  La  Republique  d'' Haiti, 
184:0-82,  1883  ;  Les  Constitutions  d' Haiti,  1801-85,  1886.  — St.  John, 
Sir  S.  :  Haiti,  or  the  Black  Republic,  1889.  —Justin,  J.  :  iStude  sur  les 
Institutions  Ha'itiennes,  1894.  —Hill,  Robert  T.  :  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico, 
1898.     Contains  some  interesting  chapters  on  Haiti  and  San  Uomingo. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  597 


SANTO  DOMINGO 

Keim,  D.  B.  R.  :  Santo  Domingo,  1871.  —  Hazard,  Samuel :  Santo 
Domingo,  Past  and  Present;  with  a  Glance  at  Haiti,  1873. — Garcia, 
J.  S.  :  Compendio  de  la  historia  de  Santo  Domingo,  1879.  — Hill's  Cuba 
and  Porto  Rico ;  Bulletins  of  the  United  States  Bureau  of  American 
Republics,  for  Santo  Domingo  and  Haiti. 

JAPAN 

Reed,  Sir  E.  J.  :  Japan:  its  History,  Traditions,  and  Religions,  2  \o\., 
1880.  —  Norman,  H.  :  Phe  Real  Japan,  1892  ;  The  Peoples  and  Politics 
of  the  Fur  East,  1895. — Murray,  D.  :  Japan  (Story  of  tlie  Nations), 
1894. — Johnston,  J.:  China  and  Formosa,  1897. — Knapp,  A.  M. : 
Feudal  and  Modern  Japan,  2  vol.,  1898.  — Brinkley,  Captain  (Editor), 
Japan  Described  and  Illustrated  b]i  Native  Authorities,  1898. —Eraser, 
Mrs.  Hugh :  Letters  from  Japan,  2  vol.,  1898.  —  Ransome,  Stafford  : 
Japan  in  Transition,  1899.  An  interesting  account  of  Japan  since  the 
war  with  China. 

INDIA 

Williams,  Sir  Monier :  Modern  India  and  the  Indians,  1879.  — Reli- 
gious Life  and  Thought  in  India,  1883.  —  Temple,  Sir  R.  :  India  in  IS80, 
1881  ;  3Ien  and  Events  of  My  Time  in  India,  1882.  —  Smith,  R.  Bos- 
worth  :  The  Life  of  Lord  Lawrence,  1883.  Valuable. — Wallace, 
Professor  R.  :  India  in  IS87,  1888.  —Hunter,  SirW.  W.  :  editorof  the 
series,  Riders  of  India,  begun  in  1890  ;  The  Indian  Empire:  Its  History, 
People,  and  Products,  new  ed.,  1893. — Baden-Powell,  B.  H.  :  Land 
Systems  of  British  India,  3  vol.,  1892  ;  ^1  Sliort  Account  of  the  Land 
Revenue  and  its  Administration  in  British  India,  1894  ;  The  Indian  Vil- 
lage Community,  1896.  —  Keene,  H.  S.  ;  History  of  India,  2  vol.,  1893. 
—  Lyall,  Sir  A.  :  The  Rise  of  British  Dmninio))  in  India,  1893.  —  Innes, 
M.  L.  :  The  Sepoy  Revolt,  1897.  —  Frazer,  R.  W.  :  British  India  {Story 
of  the  Nations),  1897. — Dutt,  Romesh  C.  :  England  and  India,  1897. 
The  views  of  an  Indian  who  is  favorably  disposed  toward  English  rule.  — 
Ilbert,  Sir  C.  P.  :  The  Government  of  India,  1898. 


SIAM 

Bow^ring,  John:  The  Kingdom  and  People  of  Siam,  2  vol.,  1857. — 
Grehan.  A.:  Le  Royaume  de  Siam,  1868.  —  Leonowens,  Mrs.  A.  H.  : 
'J'he  English  Governess  at  the  Siamese  Court,  1870.  —  Vincent,  Frank: 
The  Land  of  the  White  Elephant,  1889.  —  MacGregor,  J.  :  Through  the 
Buffer  State,  1896. — Young.  E. :  The  Kingdom  of  the  Yellow  Robe, 
1898.  —  P'or  recent  history  and  tlie  introduction  of  modern  improvements 
the  Magazines  should  be  used  with  the  help  of  Toole's  Index. 


INDEX 


Abd-el-Kader,  35 ;  career,  39-45 ;  death, 

50. 
Abdul  Hamid  II.,  179. 
Abdul  Medjid,  Sultau  of  Turkey,  179. 
Aberdeeu,  Lord,  293. 
Abolitionists,    398,    411-412,    418-419, 

420,  422,  540. 
Abyssinia,  92,  299. 
Achin,  221-222. 
Act  of  Mediation,  of  Switzerland,  251, 

252,  253.' 
Adams,  Charles  Francis,  410. 
Adams,  John,  Second  President  of  the 

United  States,  390-391. 
Adams,  John  Quincy,  400-402. 
Addington,  2(J9,  270. 
Afghanistan,  291,  305-306,  307. 
Africa,  210. 
Aguinaldo,  467. 

Alabama  Claims,  297,  303,  431,  470. 
Alaska,  430,  469-470. 
Albanians,  155,  175-176. 
Alberoni,  Cardinal,  131. 
Albert,  son-in-law  of  Philip  II.,  123. 
Alexander    of    Battenberg,    ruler    of 

Bulgaria,  171-174. 
Alexander  of  Parma,  122. 
Alexander  the  Great,  21). 
Alexander  I.,  Tsar  of  Russia,  181-182, 

184,  192. 
Alexander   II.,  Tsar  of    Russia,  184- 

189. 
Alexander   III.,  Tsar  of  Russia,  173, 

189-190. 
Alexander,   Prince  of  Servia  (1842), 

1.59. 
Alexander,  King  of  Servia  (1893),  160. 
Alexandria,  boinh.ardnR'Ut  of,  ;)09. 
Alfaro,  General,  President  of  Ecuador, 

527. 


Alfonso  XII.,  King  of  Spain,  105-108. 
Alfonso  XIII.,  King  of  Spain,  107. 
Alfonso  VI.,  of  Portugal,  113. 
Alfonso  de  Albuquerque,  113. 
Alfonso  Heuriques,  King  of  Portugal, 

114. 
Alfred,  Prince,  of  England,  164. 
Algeria,  subdued  by  France,  35. 
Allied  fleets  sink  Turkish  fleet,  162. 
Alonso,  Mariano  R.,  527. 
Alsace,  47,  60,  61,  208. 
Altgeld,  Governor,  459. 
Althing,   the    legislature  of    Iceland, 

2^4-235. 
Alvarez,  General,  483-484. 
Amadeus,  King  of  Spain,  105. 
American  Colonization   Society,  539- 

540. 
Anderson,  Major,  422. 
Andorra,  1.32-134. 

Andrade,  President  of  Venezuela,  532. 
Andrassy,  Count,  145. 
Anglo-American    Commission,   Joint, 

4(i9. 
Anglo-Saxons,  6-8. 
Antwerp,  siege  of,  1832. 
Arabi  Pasha,  .309. 
Arabs  in  Greece,  162. 
Aragon,  113-114. 

Arce,  General,  President  of  the  Re- 
public of  Central  America,  493. 
Argentine  Republic,  507,  518-521,  522, 

527. 
Arica,  claimed  by  Peru  and  Chili,  529. 
Armenians,  17(i,  317-318. 
Arnold,    Matthew,   "  Obermana  once 

more,"  .567. 
Arthur,  Chester  A.,  441-442. 
Artigas,  Jose,  dictator  of    Uruguay, 

517. 


599 


600 


INDEX 


Artois,  Count  of,  see  Charles  X. 

Ashley,  Lord,  see  Shaftesbury,  Earl  of. 

Asia,  not  cougeuial  to  constitutional 
government,  9. 

August,  Prince  of  Leuchteuberg,  120. 

Auniale,  Due  d',  37. 

Ausgleich,  148-149,  152. 

Australia,  10,  192,  347-355;  convict 
settlement,  347;  finances,  349-350; 
form  of  government,  .350-356,  570; 
mineral  wealth,  ;>18-349;  sbeej)  rais- 
ing industry,  348. 

Australian  ballot  in  England,  303. 

Australian  colonies,  8. 

Austria-Hungary,  137-153,  198-293, 
205,  207-208;  and  Servia,  159;  and 
the  German  Confederation,  1.39, 143; 
and  San  Mariuo,  131 ;  annexes  Hol- 
stein,  205;  army  and  navy,  153; 
Clericals,  147,  149;  constitutions, 
142-145,  152;  Czech  language  made 
official,  147-149 ;  combines  with  Prus- 
sia and  Piedmont  to  restore  Louis 
XVI.,  19-20;  despotic  government, 
139, 142-143,  146  ;  early  history,  137- 
138;  electoral  reform  bill  (18^)6), 
146 ;  finances,  153 ;  governed  for  the 
aristocracy,  1 ;  in  Italy,  76,  78-79, 
84-85,  88-89 ;  insurrection  of  Vienna 
(1848) ,  140 ;  intervenes  between  Bul- 
garia and  Servia,  173;  Napoleon  in, 
139 ;  opposed  to  democracy,  139 ; 
population,  147;  progress,  147;  race 
problem,  137-138,  147 ;  Reichsrath, 
147-149;  religion,  138,  1.52-153;  war 
with  Denmark  (1864),  143. 

Austrian-Germans,  5. 

Austrian  War  of  Succession,  123. 

Austro-Prussian  War,  205. 

Avellaneda,  President  of  the  Argentine 
Republic,  519. 

Baden,  25,  202. 

Badeni,  Count,  head  of  the  Austrian 

Ministry,  147. 
Bajazet,  171. 
Balfour,  Sir  Arthur,  326. 
Balkan  States,  154-179. 
Balmaceda,    Jose    Manuel,     despotic 

ruler  of  Chili,  524. 
Baratieri,  General,  92. 
Barbary  pirates,  392,  395. 


Barrios,  Gerardo,  President  of  Salva- 
dor, 495. 

Barrios,  Jose'  Maria  Reina,  ruler  of 
Guatemala,  502. 

Barrios,  Justo  Ruffino,  ruler  of  Guate- 
mala, 496-498. 

Basutoland,  370. 

Batavian  Republic,  216. 

Battles:  Ambalagi,  92;  Auerstadt,  25; 
Austerlitz,  25,  270;  Ayacucho,  509- 
510;  Boyaca,508;  Calpuhilpan,  484; 
Carabobo, 508, 510,  512;  Chacabuco, 
511;  Custozza,  81,  88,  91;  Fort  Sum- 
ter, 422 ;  Goito,  81 ;  Gravelotte,  44 ; 
Hohenlinden,  22 ;  Jemappes,  .34; 
Jena,  25 ;  Koniggriitz,  88 ;  Lake  Erie, 
415;  Leipsic,  25,  243;  Magenta,  42, 
84;  Maipo,  508,  511,  523;  Majuba 
Hill,  .307 ;  Manila  Bay,  465 ;  Marengo, 
22;  Metz,  44,  46;  Navarino,  162,  278; 
Nile,  21 ;  Novara,  82 ;  Omdurman, 
323 ;  Pastrengo,  81 ;  Pichincha,  509- 
510;  Quebec,  331;  Saarbriicken,  44; 
Santiago,  465;  Sedan,  44,  46,  89; 
Solferiuo,  42,  84;  Tchernaya,  83; 
Tel-el-Kebir,  309 ;  Trafalgar,  25,  270 ; 
Valmy,  34;  Wagram,25;  Waterloo, 
26 ;  Worth,  44 ;  Yalu  River,  553. 

Bavaria,  199,  201. 

Bazaine,  Marshal,  44,  46. 

Beaconsfield,  Lord,  173,  278,  298,  300, 
30.3-307,  311. 

Bechuanaland  Protectorate,  371,  373. 

Belfort,  47. 

Belgium,  4,122-129;  and  Austria,  123; 
Celtic  element  in  population,  123; 
Clerical  party,  125,  128;  education, 
125,  128 ;  finances,  128 :  form  of  gov- 
ernment, 124-129;  Liberal  party, 
125-127 ;  occupied  by  France,  20 ; 
population,  129;  religion,  123,  126, 
128;  retained  by  France,  22;  revolt  of 
1830,  12;J-124,  128;  socialists  in,  126- 
127  ;  temperament  of  the  people, 122- 
123;  union  with  Holland,  123-134. 

Bell,  John,  presidential  candidate  in 
1860,  419,  420. 

Bern,  Hungarian  general,  142. 

Benefices  Act,  326. 

Beresford,  Lord,  11(5. 

Bering  Sea  seal  fisheries,  341-342,  460, 
469-470. 


INDEX 


601 


Berlin,  Congress  of,  146,  177, 189,  304- 
305,  318. 

Berlin  decree,  270. 

Bernadotte,  Jean   (see  Charles  XIV., 
King  of  Sweden),  240. 

Berri,  Ducliess  of,  36. 

Berri,  Duke  of,  30,  33. 

Berri-berri,222. 

Bessarabia,  169,  184. 

Beust,  Baron  von,  144. 

Bidwell,  Joliu,  presidential  candidate 
of  tiie  Proliibitiouists,  456. 

Bismarck,  Prince,  47, 144,  20:3-211,  571. 

Bismarck  Isles,  210. 

Black  Sea,  Russia   loses  control  of, 
42. 

Black  George;  157-158. 

Blaine,  James  G.,  434,  441,  444,  453. 

Blair,  Frank  P.,  430. 

Blanco,  Guzman,  President  of  Vene- 
zuela, 531-532. 

Bloemfontein,  378. 

Bliicher,  General,  26. 

Boers,  31i>-320,  366-367,  373-379. 

Bogran,  President  of  Honduras,  497. 

Bohemia,   138,   140,  206;    Czech    lan- 
guage made  ofticial  in,  147,  149. 

Bolivar,  Simon,  507-515. 

Bolivia,  507,  513-514, 516-518,  521, 528- 
529. 

Bomba,  King  (.see  Ferdinand  II.),  85. 

Bonaparte,  Caroline,  76. 

Bonaparte,  Jerome  Napoleon,  59. 

Bonaparte,  Joseph,  25,  76,  97-98. 

Bonaparte,  Prince  Louis  Napoleon,  67. 

Bonaparte,  Prince  Napoleon,  59. 

Bonaparte,   Prince  Victor   Napoleon, 
69,  ()2,  67. 

Bonapartists,  35,  38,  50,  51,  53,  54,  58, 
59,  62. 

Bordeaux,  46. 

Borris,  Prince  of  Bulgaria,  175. 

Bosnia,  146. 

Boulanger,  General,  62-63,  71. 

Boulogne,  39. 

Bourbons,  deprived  of  Catholic  sup- 
port by  Bonaparte,  22. 

Bourbons,  restoration  of,  ;30. 

Bragan(;a,  House  of,  115,  117. 

Brazil,  114-117,  506,  517-518,  522-523, 
527. 

Breckenridge,  J.  C,  417,  419-420. 


Brienne,  17. 

Bright,  John,  275,  288,  293,  313. 

British  South  Africa  Company,  372. 

Broglie,  Due  de,  53,  56. 

Brooks,  Preston  S.,  416. 

Brougham,  Lord,  283. 

Brown,  B.  Gratz,  432. 

Brown,  John,  418-410. 

Browne,  Colonel,  361. 

Bryan,  William  J.,  462. 

Buchanan,  James,  417-418,  421. 

Buckner,  Governor,  463. 

Buenos  Ayres,  506-508,  510,  513-514, 
516-519. 

Buffet,  French  Prime  Minister,  53. 

Bulgaria,  170-176;  Constitution,  175; 
education,  175;  National  Assembly, 
171-172;  religion,  175;  republican 
principles,  172. 

Bulgarian  and  Servian  war,  173. 

Bulgarians,  156,  159. 

Bureaucracy  in  France,  61. 

Burlingame,  Anson,  416. 

Burr,  Aaron,  391. 

Butler,  Senator,  416. 

Butt,  Isaac,  leader  of  the  Irish  Liber- 
als, 302,  307. 

Byron,  Lord,  162,  273,  511. 

Bytown  (see  Ottawa) ,  334. 

Cabot,  John,  345. 

Cadiz,  Don  Francisco  of  Assisi,  Duke 
of,  37,  102. 

Cpesar,  Julius,  26. 

Caffarel,  General,  and  the  Limousin 
scandal,  62. 

Calhoun,  J.  C,  401,  412. 

California,  409-411. 

Calonne,  17. 

Cambridge,  University  of,  274. 

Camoens,  Luis  de,  115. 

Campos,  Martinez,  108-109. 

Canada,  Dominion  of,  10;  331-345; 
Fisheries  question,  341,  431,  469; 
Conservative  party,  339-341 ;  edu- 
cation, 343;  government,  332-338; 
Liberal  party,  339-340,  343-344; 
Loyalists  from  America  emigrate 
to,  331 ;  reciprocity  with  the  United 
States,  338,  341,345;  relations  with 
the  United  States,  338-339,  431, 
469-470;    Scotch   element    in,  331; 


602 


INDEX 


separation  into  Upper  and  Lower 
Canada,  332;  tariff  question,  344. 

Canadian  Pacific  Railroad,  340. 

Canning,  George,  162,  183,  270-272, 
275,  277-278,  518. 

Canovas  del  Castillo,  107,  108. 

Cape  Breton,  331. 

Cape  Colony,  8,  366-373. 

Capodistrias,  John,  162-163. 

Caprivi,  General.  211. 

Carbonari,  the,  77,  78,  79. 

Carlos  I.,  King  of  Portugal,  120. 

Carlos  VII.,  105. 

Carlos,  Don,  100-101,  110. 

Carlotta,  Queen  of  Portugal,  117,  118. 

Carlsbad  Congress,  200. 

Carnot,  President,  62,  63, 65. 

Caroline,  Queen  of  England,  283. 

Caroline  Islands,  210. 

Carre ra,  Central  American  despot, 
494-497. 

Casiniir-Perier,  French  Prime  Minis- 
ter, 65. 

Cassation,  Court  of,  66,  68,  73. 

Castelar,  Emilio,  106. 

Castile,  113,  114. 

Catherine  II.  of  Russia,  180,  187. 

Catholic  Church,  in  Austria,  153;  in 
Belgium,  126,  128:  in  Canada,  343- 
344:  in  England,  269-270,  278-279; 
in  France,  22,  56;  in  Germany,  208- 
209;  in  Ireland,  26(i-267,  279,  300- 
301;  in  Switzerland,  255-256. 

Cavendish,  Lord  Frederick,  murdered, 
308. 

Cavour,  Camillo  Benso,  Count  di, 
82-84,  87. 

Celman,  Juarez,  President  of  the 
Argentine  Republic,  520. 

Central  America,  490-505 ;  allied  to 
Latin  nations,  8 ;  annexed  by  Mexico, 
491 ;  becomes  independent,  491 ; 
Church  party,  495-496 ;  federation 
in,  491-495,  497-501 ;  Liberal  party, 
491-494;  Republic  of,  492-494;  re- 
volts from  Spain,  490-491;  Serviles 
in,  491-493. 

Cetewayo,  chief  of  the  Zulus,  306. 

Chamberlain,  Joseph,  320,  354,  376. 

Chambord,  Count  of,  50,  51,  54,  59. 

Charlemagne,  133,  137. 

Charles  I.,  King  of  England,  17. 


Charles  III.,  King  of  Spain,  97. 
Charles  IV.,  King  of  Spain,  97,  98. 
Charles  V.,  Emperor  of  Austria,  96, 

197. 
Charles  X.,  King  of  France,  31-33 ;  79. 
Charles  XII.,   King  of    Sweden,  237, 

245. 
Charles  XIII.,  King  of  Sweden,  238- 

240,  243-245. 
Charles  XIV.,  King  of  Sweden,  240, 

243. 
Charles  XV.,  King  of  Sweden,  241-242. 
Charles  of  HohenzoUern-Sigmaringen, 

King  of  Rumania,  169-170. 
Charles  Albert  of  Savoy,  78,  81,  82, 87. 
Charles  Felix,  78,  81. 
Chassepot  ritle,  43. 
Chauvinism  in  France,  60. 
Chicago  riot,  459. 
Chicapos,  491. 
Chili,  507-508,  511,  521-523,  525,  528- 

529. 
China,  liK),  323-325 ;  cedes  Port  Arthur 

to  Russia,  324;    partition  of,  323- 

325;    relations  with  England,  291- 

292,     323-325;     war    with    Japan, 

552-554. 
Chiselhurst,  44. 

Christian  I.,  King  of  Denmark,  224. 
Christian  II.,  King  of  Denmark,  224. 
Christian  VII.,  King  of  Denmark,  225. 
Christian  VIII. ,   King    of    Denmark, 

226. 
Christian  IX.,  King  of  Denmark,  204, 

230,  234-235. 
Christian,  Prince  of  Gliicksburg,  229. 
Christian  Augustus,  Regent  of  Nor- 
way, 240. 
Christian  Frederick,  King  of  Norway, 

243. 
Chulalongkorn,    King    of    Siam,    69, 

565-566. 
Circassians,  171. 

Citizen  King,  see  Louis  Philippe. 
Clay,  Henry,  399-400,  404, 408, 411-412, 

539. 
Clement  XII.,  Pope  of  Rome,  13. 
Cleveland,  President,  321, 444-446, 450, 

455-462. 
Cobden,  Richard,  288. 
Cochrane,  Lord  Thomas,  511. 
Code,  Napoleon,  544. 


INDEX 


603 


Colfax,  Schuyler,  430. 

Colombia,  Republic  of,  513-516,  525- 

526,  545. 
Comonfort,  General  Ignacio,  484. 
Compromise  of  Zanyon,  108. 
Confederate  States  of  America,  420, 

422-423. 
Confederation  of  the  Rhine,  139,  143, 

198-199. 
Congo  Free  State,  322-323. 
Congress  of  Berlin,  146,  177,  189. 
Congress  of  Paris,  83. 
Congress    of  Vienna,  28-29,  77,   123, 

198,  217,  253. 
Consulate,  established,  21;   how  con- 
stituted, 22. 
Cook,  Captain,  347,  357. 
Cordeliers,  18. 
Corsica,  21. 

Cortez,  Fernando,  479,  490. 
Costa,  Italian  Socialist,  90. 
Costa  Rica,  493,  494. 
Coxey,  American  agitator,  459. 
Credit  Mobilier,  433. 
Crete,  163-166. 
Crimean  War,  41,  42,  183-184,  292-294, 

318. 
Crispi,  90. 
Croatia,  141,  151. 
Crusades,  3. 
Crystal    Palace    exhibition    in    New 

York,  415. 
Cuba,  105.  107-110,  461,  464-466,  471. 
Cumberland,  Duke  of,  286. 
Gushing,  Caleb,  100. 
Cuza,  Prince  of  Rumania,  169. 
Czechs,  5,  147. 

Dahra,  caves  of,  35. 

Dallas,  George  M.,  408. 

Damaraland,  210. 

Dampier,  English  buccaneer,  347. 

Danes,  temperament  of,  6. 

Darmstadt,  199. 

Davis,  David,  435. 

Davis,  JeiTerson,  413,  420,  426. 

Dayton,  William  L.,  417. 

Detik,  Francis,  142. 

Deciatur,  Commodore,  392,  395. 

Decazes,  Duke,  30. 

De  Cissey,  FrcTicli  Prime  Minister,  53. 

De  Laveleye,  lilmile,  146. 


Delyannis,  Greek  Prime  Minister,  165. 

Denmark,  143,  204,  224-232;  annexes 
Sweden,  Schleswig,  and  Holstein, 
224;  cedes  Norway  to  Sweden,  225; 
condition  before  the  French  Revolu- 
tion, 5 ;  Liberal  party,  227-228,  230- 
231 ;  loses  Schleswig,  227 ;  serfdom 
in,  224-225. 

Depretis,  Italian  statesman,  90. 

Derby,  Lord,  296,  298-300. 

Dessalines,  despot  of  Haiti,  543. 

De  Staal,  Russian  diplomatist,  191. 

Devil's  Island,  68. 

Dewey,  Admiral,  465. 

Diaz,  Bartholomew,  115. 

Diaz,  Portirio,  486,  488,  497^98. 

Disraeli,  Benjamin,  see  Beaconsfield, 
Lord. 

Dobrudja,  169. 

Donelson,  Andrew  J.,  417. 

Douglas,  Stephen  A.,  413,  415,419-420. 

Dreci  Scott  Decision,  418-419. 

Dreyfus,  Captain,  65-69. 

Dublin  Parliament,  267. 

Dnfaure,  French  Prime  Minister,  54. 

Dufour,  General,  255. 

Durham,  Lord,  333,  334,  358. 

Dutch  Republic,  see  Holland. 

Dutch,  temperament  of,  5. 

Eastern  Rumelia  annexed  to  Bulgaria, 
172. 

Ecuador,  508-509,  513-516,  526. 

Egypt,  expedition  of  Napoleon  to,  21. 

Elgin,  Lord,  334. 

Emma,  Princess  of  Waldeck-Pyrmont 
and  Regent  of  Holland,  222. 

Engelbrekt,  Swedish  patriot,  239. 

Enghien,  Due  de,  24. 

England,  1,  570 ;  Abyssinian  War,  299 ; 
alienated  from  France  by  the  Span- 
ish marriages,  36-37;  Allotment  Act, 
312-313;  army,  330;  attitude  toward 
America  during  the  Civil  War,  29(5- 
297  ;  Chartist  movement,  289-290 ; 
Church  of  England,  274,  284,  -.UYA, 
32(>-327,  329;  conflicts  with  France 
in  Africa,  322-.323 ;  Conservative  and 
Liberal  parties,  61 ;  Conservative 
party,  275,  281,  325;  corn  laws,  273, 
2.SS,  2!r);  Corporation  Reform  Act, 
284;  Crystal  Palace  exhibition,  290; 


604 


INDEX 


Dissenters  in,  284,  327;  education, 
269,  313;  Egyptian  War,  308-310 
Electoral  Reform  Bill,  282,  316 
fears  Germany  commercially,  325 
finances,  272-273,  276,  329;  foreign 
policy  under  Disraeli,  304-306,  370- 
372 ;  foreign  wars,  291-297,  366-367, 
373-379;  free  trade,  288-299,  325; 
Home  Rule,  302,  307-308,  311-312, 
314-316;  House  of  Lords,  275,  281, 
314-315;  invasion  of  Spain,  271-272; 
Irish  discontent,  300-302;  Irish  Land 
Bill  (1870) ,  302,  308 ;  Irish  Land  Bill 
(1881),  311;  laboring  classes,  267, 
272-273,276-277,287,  289;  landown- 
ers, 273,  287;  Liberal  party,  275, 
315-317;  Local  Government  Board 
for  Scotland,  316;  Navigation  Laws, 
288;  navy,  327,  330;  opium  traffic 
with  China,  291 ;  parliamentary  gov- 
ernment, 265,  266,  268-269;  penal 
code,  267,  284;  penny  postage,  286; 
policy-  in  India,  291,  561-563;  re- 
forms, 303-304,  310,  325;  relations 
with  Russia,  292-294,  304-305,  323- 
325;  sentiment  in  regard  to  Turkish 
atrocities  in  Armenia,  317-318 ;  South 
African  complications,  318-320,  365- 
379;  suffrage,  279-284,  296,  299,  310- 
311;  Test  Act  repealed,  278;  Tory 
party,  270,  274-275,  288;  trade- 
unions,  276 ;  upholds  Turkey  against 
Russia,  183, 292 ;  Venezuela  question, 
321,  460,  470,  532-533;  war  with 
France,  269 ;  war  with  the  Trans- 
vaal, 305-307 ;  Whig  party,  274-275 ; 
Zulu  war,  306. 

English,  W.  H.,  Democratic  vice-pres- 
idential candidate,  441. 

Epaminondas,  26. 

Eric,  King  of  Sweden,  236. 

Erythrffia,  92. 

Espartero,  Spanish  general  and  states- 
man, 101,  102,  103,  104. 

Esterhazy,  Colonel,  66,  68. 

Estrup,  Jacob,  Danish  statesman,  231. 

Eugenie,  Empress  of  the  French,  41, 
43. 

Everett,  Edward,  419^20. 

Fashoda,  323. 
Faure,  Felix,  65-68. 


Favre,  Jules,  46. 

Federal  Pact  of  Switzerland,  253,  254. 

Federigo,  Duke  of  Urbino,  131. 

Fenians,  299. 

Ferdinand  I.,  Emperor  of  Austria, 
140-141,  201. 

Ferdinand  I.,  of  Naples,  77,  78. 

Ferdinand  of  Castile,  King  of  Spain, 
96,  114. 

Ferdinand  II.,  of  Naples,  81,  82,  85. 

Ferdinand  VII.,  King  of  Spain,  30,  37, 
97-100,  481. 

Ferdinand,  Pi-ince  of  Bulgaria,  174. 

Ferdinand,  Prince  of  Coburg,  120. 

Ferry,  Jules,  63. 

Fielding,  W.  S.,  Canadian  Minister  of 
Finance,  344. 

Fillmore,  Millard,  410,  417. 

Finland,  ceded  to  Russia,  238. 

Finns,  192. 

Fitch,  John,  inventor  of  the  steam- 
boat, 393. 

Flanders,  Count  of,  169. 

Flemings,  122,  123. 

Floquet,  Prime  Minister,  duel  with 
Boulanger,  63. 

Flores,  General,  of  Ecuador,  515. 

Foix,  Count  of,  suzerain  of  Andorra, 
133. 

Ford's  Theatre,  423. 

Forest  States  of  Switzerland,  249. 

Formosa,  551,  554-555,  558-559. 

Foster,  J.  W.,  American  expert  on  the 
seal  fisheries  question,  342. 

Fox,  Charles  James,  270,  275. 

France,  15-74,  20(5-208 ;  aggressions  in 
Africa,  322-323 ;  in  Siam,  565 ;  army 
and  navy,  74;  Bank  of,  24;  bureau- 
cracy, 61  ;  centralization  perijetuated 
by  Napoleon,  61;  injurious  to  the 
Republic,  61;  character  of  democ- 
racy, 61 ;  clergy,  6,  17  ;  Code  Napo- 
leon, 23;  Commune  of  1871,  47,  51; 
Communists  of  1871  granted  am- 
nesty, 56 ;  Constituent  Assembly,  of 
1879  {see  National  Assembly  of), 
39;  Constitutionalists,  34,  38;  Con- 
stitutions, 18,  19,  29,  39,  40,  54; 
Court  of  Cassation,  66;  courts,  23, 
72-73;  Declaration  of  Rights,  18; 
democracy,  33,  (il,70;  the  Directory, 
how  constituted,  19-20;  insurrection 


INDEX 


605 


against,  20;  overthrow,  21;  educa- 
tion, 19,  23,  54,  73 ;  Empire  collapses, 
89 ;  extravagance  of  the  court,  15-1(J ; 
finances,  16,  17,  20,  44,  57,  58,  73,  74 ; 
First  and  Second  Empires  compared, 
44;  franchise,  29,  71 ;  free  trade,  44, 
49;  frequent  changes  of  ministries, 
61;  fusion  of  the  Monarchists,  50; 
"  Government  of  National  Defence," 
44;  great  and  prosperous  under  Na- 
poleon III.,  42-43;  Imperialists,  52, 

54,  59,  63,  64;  indemnity  i)aid  to  Ger- 
many, 47,  49,  51,  57 ;  interferes  in 
Mexican  affairs,  485 ;  July  revolution 
of  1830,  79;  lack  of  puhlic  opinion, 
38;  Legislative  Assembly  of  the 
French  Revolution,  18;  Legitimists, 
34, 38,  49, 52,  54 ;  Monarchists,  51 ,  53, 

55,  59,  62;  monarchy  in,  48-51,  54; 
National  Assembly  of  1789, 17-18;  of 
1848,  40 ;  of  the  Third  Republic,  46, 
48,  49,  51,  52,  53,  54,  55,  58;  national 
convention  of  the  French  Revolution, 
19;  National  Guard  disbanded,  31; 
national  workshops,  39 ;  nobles  ex- 
empted from  taxation,  15;  their  vir- 
tues and  vices,  15,  16;  oppose  the 
third  estate,  17 ;  opposed  to  the 
Third  Republic,  59 ;  parties  in,  34-35, 
38,  48-50,  52,  54,  58-59,  61,  63,  64; 
peerage  restored,  30  ;  people,  condi- 
tion of  before  French  Revolution,  2 ; 
oppression  of,  15 ;  grow  prosperous 
after  Bourbon  restoration,  32;  not 
ready  for  self-government,  38 ;  have 
made  their  will  respected,  70 ;  politi- 
cal restlessness,  8,  ()9;  population 
almost  stationary,  (iO;  hopes  to  re- 
gain Alsace  and  Lorraine,  61 ;  pop- 
ulation, 60;  the  press,  freedom 
menaced  by  Charles  XII.,  31,  32; 
criticises  the  government,  51 ;  freed 
from  restrictions,  54;  Prince  Impe- 
rial, 59;  prior  to  the  Revolution,  15; 
the  First  Republic,  17-19 ;  the  Second 
Republic,  39-40 ;  the  Third  estab- 
lished, 47;  menaced  by  the  fusion, 
50;  gains  strength,  .51,  62,  63;  con- 
flict with  MacMalion,  .52-54 ;  dangers 
of,  57-62 ;  stability  of,  70-71 ;  organ- 
ization of,  71-74  ;  riots,  3(5,  .39,  47  ; 
seeks  the  friendship  of  Russia,  60; 


Senate  created  by  the  Third  Repub- 
lic, 52 ;  statistics,  71-74 ;  suffrage,  39, 
40;  the  three  estates,  17,  18;  the  tri- 
color adopted  by  Louis  Philippe,  .'34 ; 
repudiated  by  the  Count  of  Cham- 
bord,  50;  unites  with  England 
against  Russia,   183. 

Francia,  Jose  Gaspar  Rodriguez,  des- 
pot of  Paraguay,  517,  527. 

Francis  I.,  Emperor  of  Austria,  138, 
198. 

Francis  II.,  of  Austria,  201. 

Francis  II.,  of  Naples,  85,  86. 

Francis  Joseph,  Emperor  of  Austria, 
141-142,  144,  149,  183,  246. 

Franco-Prussian  War,  43-46,  60,  105, 
206,  207. 

Frederick  II.,  Emperor  of  Germany, 
211. 

Frederick  III.,  King  of  Denmark,  224- 
225. 

Frederick  VI.,  King  of  Denmark,  226, 
243. 

Frederick  VII.,  King  of  Denmark,  204, 
227,  229,  242. 

Frederick  VIII.,  King  of  Denmark,  234. 

Frederick,  Prince  of  Hesse,  229. 

Frederick  William  III.,  King  of  Prus- 
sia, 198,  200,  201. 

Frederick  William  IV.,  King  of  Prus- 
sia, 198,  201,  202,  204. 

Freemasons,  115. 

Fremont,  John  C,  417. 

French  Revolution,  arouses  patriotism 
in  Greece,  161 ;  changes  accom- 
plished by,  20;  controlled  by  Pari- 
sian populace,  17 ;  creates  an  elective 
judiciary,  23;  effect  of  in  Germany, 
198 ;  effect  of  in  Holland,  215 ;  effect 
of  in  Russia,  180-181 ;  effect  of  in 
Switzerland,  250, 251 ;  reaction  from, 
29. 

French  Shore  question,  345. 

Frere,  Sir  Bartle,  306. 

Fulton,  Robert,  and  the  steamer  CTer- 
mont,  393. 

Gaeta,  86. 

Galicia,  113. 

Gallifet,  General,  68,  69. 

Garcia,  Dr.  Manuel,  of  Buenos  Ayies, 

518. 


606 


INDEX 


Garfield,  James  A.,  441-442,  470. 

Garibaldi,  Giuseppe,  80,  82,  86,  87, 
88. 

Genet,  French  emissary  to  ttie  United 
States,  389. 

Genoa,  76,  77,  80. 

George  I.,  King  of  Greece,  164,  165, 
167,  230. 

George  III.,  King  of  England,  269-270, 
276-277. 

George  IV.,  King  of  England,  277, 279,- 
283. 

George,  Prince  of  Greece,  made  High 
Commissioner  of  Crete,  166. 

George,  Henry,  489. 

German,  the,  5. 

German  States,  governed  for  the  aris- 
tocracy, 1. 

German  Confederation,  199,  202,  203, 
206. 

Germany,  5,  197-214,  569 ;  army,  204, 
205,  208,  211,  212,  214 ;  composition 
of  the  Empire,  212-214;  Constitu- 
tional Convention  of  1848,  202;  de- 
mocracy, 213;  effect  of  the  French 
Revolution  of  1830,  200;  of  1848, 
201,  202;  education,  197,  198,  214; 
finances,  214 :  foreign  colonization, 
210;  May  Laws,  208;  National  As- 
sembly, 202,  207 ;  new  civil  code, 
212;  population,  60;  the  Refor- 
mation, 197;  Reichstag,  207,  208, 209, 
210,  211,  213,  214;  religion,  214; 
scholarship,  203;  Socialists,  20i>-210, 
213 ;  State  socialism,  210 ;  treaty  with 
Russia,  208;  unification,  207,  211. 

Ghibellines,  the,  75. 

Giddings,  Joshua  R.,  416. 

Gilbert,  Sir  Humphrey,  345. 

Gladstone,  W.  E.,  85,  220,  275,  278, 
281,  298-318,  326,  571. 

Goethe,  203. 

Golchowski,  Count,  Austro-Hungarian 
statesman,  145. 

Gonzalez,  Manuel,  Mexican  President, 
486. 

Gordon,  General,  309-310. 

GiJrgei,  Hungarian  general,  142. 

Graham,  William  A.,  Whig  vice-pres- 
idential candidate,  413. 

Gramont,  Due  de,  43. 

Grant,  General  U.  S.,  430-433,  441. 


Great  Britain  and  her  Colonies,  265- 
379. 

Great  Britain,  area,  population  and 
government,  328-330;  a  colonizing 
power,  327-.328. 

Greece,  61-167;  Constitution,  161-162, 
163,  164 ;  democratic  spirit,  163,  166 ; 
indemnity  paid  Turkey,  166;  Na- 
tional Assembly  (1822),  161;  secret 
political  societies,  161, 165;  war  with 
Turkey,  1(J2,  165-166,  278. 

Greeks,  character  of,  167 ;  in  Euro- 
pean Turkey,  155. 

Greeley,  Horace,  432,  444. 

Grenville,  Lord,  270,  271,  278. 

Grey,  Lord,  275,  282-283. 

Grey,  Sir  George,  360. 

Grosgurin,  French  oflicer  in  Siam,  69. 

Guatemala,  490-499,  501-502. 

Guelfs,  75. 

Guerrero,  General,  Mexican  revolu- 
tionary leader,  480. 

Guizot,  F.,  36,  37,  275. 

Gustavus  II.,  King  of  Sweden,  2.35. 

Gustavus  III.,  reasserts  royal  pre- 
rogative in  Sweden,  237. 

Gustavus  Adolphus,  King  of  Sweden, 
237,  245. 

Gustavus  Vasa,  237,  242. 

Haiti,  542-544,  546. 

Hale,  John  P.,  413. 

Ham,  citadel  of,  39. 

Hamilton,  Alexander,  384,  387-388. 

Hamlin,  Hannibal,  419-420. 

Hancock,  Wiufield  S.,  441. 

Hanover,  206,  286. 

Hapsburg,  House  of,  138, 143. 

Harcourt,  Sir  William,  opposes  ritual- 
ism, 326. 

Harold  Fairhair,  King  of  Norway, 
236. 

Harrison,  Benjamin,  450-453,  455-456, 
462,  532. 

Harrison,  William  Henry,  405-407. 

Hartington,  Lord,  220. 

Havelock,  General,  295. 

Hawaii,  461,  467. 

Hayes,  Rutherford  B.,  434,  436^37, 
439,  440,  441. 

Haymerle,  Baron,  Austro-Hungarian 
statesman,  145. 


INDEX 


607 


Hayne,  Robert,  404. 

Helvetian  Club,  250. 

Helvetic  Republic,  2,51. 

Helvetic  Society,  250,  254. 

Hendricks,  Thomas  A.,  434,  444. 

Heni-y  H.,  King  of  England,  301. 

Henry  V.,  title  claimed  by  the  Count 
of  Chambord,  51. 

Henry,  Count  of  Burgundy,  114. 

Henry,  Colonel,  and  the  Dreyfus  Case, 
67. 

Herzegovina,  146. 

Hesse,  199,  200. 

Hidalgo  y  Costilla,  Miguel,  Mexican 
revolutionary  leader,  480. 

Hill,  Sir  Rowland,  286. 

Hobart,  Garret  A.,  462. 

Hohenlohe,  Prince,  212. 

Holland,  21.5-223;  abolition  of  slavery 
in  the  West  Indies,  218-219;  as  a 
Republic,  215 ;  classed  with  the  Ger- 
manic countries,  5;  Constitution, 
216,  218,  219,  223;  Liberal  party,  218, 
219,  220,  221;  relations  with  Bel- 
gium, 123, 124 ;  reverts  to  monarchy, 
216;  States-General,  218,  219,  221, 
223 ;  subjugated  by  Fi-ance,  20;  war 
with  England,  215. 

Holstein-Gottorp,  House  of,  239. 

Holy  Alliance,  30,  78,  100,  117,  139, 
183,  277-278,  294. 

Holy  Roman  Empire,  138, 197,  198. 

Honduras,  490,  493-496,  498,  499,  502, 
503. 

Honshu,  547,  559. 

Hospodars  (in  the  Danubian  Princi- 
palities), 167,  168. 

Hudson  Bay  Company,  3.39. 

Humbert  IV.,  King  of  Italy,  90-91. 

Hundred  Days,  the,  26. 

Hungary,  138,  140-141,  142,  143,  144, 
148, 14fM52, 153;  education  and  art, 
150;  prosperity,  150;  race  pi-oblem, 
150;  socialism,  151. 

Iceland,  233-2.35. 

Iglesias,  Mexican  politician,  486. 

Imperial  federation  of  Great  Britain 
and  her  Colonics,  .344. 

Income  tax  in  the  United  States,  460. 

India,  9,  291,  561-.5()4 ;  form  of  govern- 
ment, 561-562 ;  Sepoy  Mutiny,  294. 


Inquisition,  77;  in  Portugal,  114;  in 
Spain,  96,  99,  100,  101. 

Inukai,  Japanese  statesman,  557. 

Ireland,  266-267,  300-301,  302 ;  Act  of 
Union,  .300;  coercion  acts,  301,  308; 
disestablishment  of  the  Protestant 
Church,  300;  Fenian  agitation,  299; 
Home  Rule,  302,  307-308,  311-312, 
314-316;  Land  League,  300,  307-308; 
National  League,  312 ;  National  Par- 
liament, 266 ;  obtains  local  self-gov- 
ernment, 326. 

Isabel,  daughter  of  Philip  II.  of  Spain, 
123. 

Isabella  II.,  Queen  of  Spain,  100,  101, 
102,  105. 

Isabella  of  Aragon,  Queen  of  Spain, 
96,  114. 

Isabella  Maria,  Regent  of  Portugal, 117. 

Istria,  89. 

Itagaki,  Count,  Japanese  statesman, 
555,  557. 

Italy,  75-95,  205,  206,  208 ;  at  the  close 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  75-76 ; 
Chinese  complications,  91;  colonial 
policy,  91 ;  conflicting  parties,  75 ; 
Constitutions,  77,  78;  education 
made  compulsory,  91;  famine  in, 
91;  finances,  92,  93,  95;  first  Par- 
liament, in  1861,  87,  90;  general 
progress,  91-95;  government,  94; 
government  prior  to  the  French  Rev- 
olution, 1 ;  in  the  Crimean  War,  83; 
political  unrest,  4,  8;  Radicals,  90- 
91 ;  revolution  of  1848-49,  82 ;  scene 
of  discord,  75;  Socialists,  90-91,  93; 
unification,  87,  89. 

Ito,  Marquis,  Japanese  statesman,  555- 
556. 

Iturbide,  Augustin  de,  Mexican  Em- 
peror, 480-481,  482,  491. 

lye'yasu  Tokugawa,  early  Japanese 
leader,  547,  548. 

Jackson,  Andrew,  400,  401,  402,  403- 
406. 

Jacobins,  the,  18. 

Jameson,  Dr.,  31it-320,  376. 

Japan,  9,  414-415, 547-560 ;  commercial 
relations,  548-550,  558-559;  feudal 
system,  547-549;  finances,  557-.5()0: 
form    of    government,   559;    Hizen 


608 


INDEX 


Clan,  555;    Liberal  party,  555-557; 

Mikado,  547-551 ;  party  government, 

555-557 ;  Progressive  party.  555-557  ; 

rapid  modern  development,  551-552; 

reforms,   55i-557;    Shoguuate,    547, 

548,  549,  550;    spoils  system,  550; 

Tosa  Clan,  555 ;    war  with  China, 

553-554. 
Java,  218. 
Jay,  John,  389. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  387,  391-392,  403. 
Jesuits,  expelled  from  Spain,  101,  104; 

institutions  of,  closed  in  France,  50. 
Jews  in  Russia,  184. 
Johannesburg,  319,  369,  375. 
John  III.,  King  of  Portugal,  114. 
John  VI.,  King  of  Portugal  and  Brazil, 

110,  117,  522. 
John,  Prince  of  Saxony,  103. 
Johnson,  Andrew,  420-429. 
Johnson,     Herschel    V.,    Democratic 

vice-presidential     candidate,     419- 

420. 
Johnson,  Richard   M.,  Vice-President 

under  Van  Buren,  405. 
Juarez,  Benito,  483-480. 
Julian,   George    W.,  Free    Soil  vice- 
presidential  candidate,  413. 
Junot,  French  general,  115,  116. 

Kabyles,  Algerian  tribe,  35. 

Kalakaua,  King  of  Hawaii,  461. 

Kalnoky,  Count,  Austro-Hungarian 
Minister,  145. 

Kansas,  415-416. 

Kardjordje,  or  Black  George,  157. 

Kliartum,  fall  of,  310. 

Khyber  Pass,  291,  305. 

Kiao-Chau,  seized  by  Germany,  324. 

King,  William  R.,  Democratic  vice- 
presidential  candidate,  413. 

Kinkel,  Gottfried,  203. 

Kingston,  334. 

Kioto,  547,  549,  551. 

Kitchener,  General,  323. 

Kiushiu,  559. 

Klapka,  Hungarian  general,  142. 

Klephts,  in  Greece,  101. 

Klondike,  470. 

Knut  the  Great,  224. 

Koniggratz,  144,  200. 

Korea,  551,  553,  554,  555. 


Kossuth,  Francis,  148,  152. 

Kossuth,  Louis,  142. 

Kostza,  Martin,  and  the  naturalization 

question,  414. 
Kotzebue,  murder  of,  199-200,  201. 
Krapotkin,  Prince,  185. 
Kruger,  Paul,  319,  374-378. 
Ku-klux-Klan.  428. 
Kuper,  British  admiral,  549. 

Labori,  Maitre,  68. 

Lafayette,  Marquis  of,  34. 

Lamartine,  Aljjhonse  Marie  Louis  de, 
39. 

Lamballe,  Princess  de,  19. 

Lansgemeinden,  general  assemblies  of 
Switzerland,  249. 

Lane,  Joseph,  Democratic  vice-presi- 
dential candidate,  419,  420. 

Latin  countries,  4,  10. 

Latin    races,  characteristics  of,  111; 
decline  of.  111. 

Laurier,  Sir  Wilfrid,  343-345. 

La  Vendee,  36. 

Lavigerie,  Cardinal,  supports  the  Re- 
public, 64. 

Lawrence,  Sir  Henry,  295. 

Lawrence,  Lord  John,  295. 

Lee,  General  Robert  E.,  surrender  of, 
423. 

Legion  of  Honor,  24. 

Leon, 113. 

Leopold    I.,    King    of    Belgium,    124, 
125. 

Leopold  II.,  King  of  Belgium,  125. 

Leopold  II.,  head  of  the  Holy  Roman 
Empire,  17TO-92,  198. 

Leopold,  Prince  of  Saxe-Coburg,  103. 

Leopold,  Prince  of  Sigmaringen,  43, 
105. 

Lerdo  de  Tejada,  Mexican  statesman, 
486. 

Lese  majeste,  6. 

Lesseps,  Charles  de,  64. 

Lesseps,  Ferdinand  de,  64. 

Liao-tung  peninsula,  324,  554. 

Liberia,  539-541,  544. 

Liechtenstein,  153. 

Liliuokalani,  Queen  of  Hawaii,  461. 

Limousin  scandal,  62. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  296,  383,  412,  419, 
420,  422-424,  420,  427-428,  571. 


INDEX 


609 


Liu-Kiu  Islands,  annexed  by  Japan, 

551. 
Liverpool,  Lord,  277-278. 
Logan,  John  A.,  444. 
Lombardy,  42,  85,  143. 
Lopez,  Carlos  A.,  ruler  of  Paraguay, 

527. 
Lopez,  Francisco  Salano,  ruler  of  Para- 
guay, 527. 
Lorraine,47,60,  61,  208. 
Loubet,  lilmile,  68. 
Louis  XVI.,  King  of  France,  16-19,  31, 

198,  238. 
Louis  XVII.,  title  given  to  Louis  the 

Dauphin,  29. 
Louis  XVIII. ,  26,  29-31,  70. 
Louis  Napoleon,  King  of  Holland,  39, 

216. 
Louis  Philippe,  34-37,  40,  70,  103,  124, 

201. 
Louise,  Princess  of  Hesse  and  Queen 

of  Denmark,  229. 
Lucca,  annexed  by  Tuscany,  80. 
Lucknow,  siege  of,  295. 
Luddites,  the,  27.'5. 
Liiger,  Dr.,  Austrian-German  leader, 

149. 
Luis  I.,  King  of  Portugal,  120. 
Luisa,  Infanta  of  Spain,  37,  102. 
Luther,  Martin,  197. 
Luxemburg,  duchy  of,  219. 
Lyons,  uprising  in,  36. 

McCarthy,  Justin,  314. 

McClellan,  General,  166. 

Macdonald,  Sir  John,  340-341. 

Macedonia,  164,  165. 

Machinery,  in  England,  272-273,  277. 

Mackay,  Baron,  Dutch  statesman, 
220. 

Mackenzie,  Alexander,  341. 

Mackintosh,  Sir  James,  284. 

McKinley,  William,  462,  464-465,  467, 
470-471. 

MacMahon,  Marshal,  44,  47,  50-55. 

Madison,  James,  394,  539. 

Magna  Charta,  265. 

Magnum,  W.  P.,  presidential  candi- 
date in  1836,  405. 

Magyars,  the,  5,  137, 138,  142, 143,  150, 
151,  16(),  183. 

Mahdi,  El,  310. 

2  R 


Maine,  United  States  battleship,  465. 

Malatesta  family,  130. 

Malta,  island  of,  24. 

Manchester  riot,  276. 

Manchuria,  absorbed  by  Russia,  324. 

Mandingoes,  541. 

Manin,  Daniel,  Italian  patriot,  82. 

Manitoba,  school  question,  343. 

Maoris,  357,  358.  361,  364. 

Marchand,  Major,  occupies  British 
territory  in  Africa,  323. 

Margra-et,  Queen  of  Denmark,  236. 

Maria  I.,  Queen  of  Portugal,  116. 

Maria  Christina,  Archduchess  of  Aus- 
tria, Queen  Regent  of  Spain,  107, 
110. 

Maria  Christina,  Queen  Regent  of 
Spain,  37,  100-103. 

Maria  da  Gloria,  Queen  of  Portugal, 
118-120. 

Maria  Dagmar,  Tsarina  of  Russia,  230. 

Maria  Teresa,  Princess  of  Spain,  107. 

Marie  Antoinette,  executed,  19. 

Marinus,  Saint,  130. 

Marshall,  John,  393. 

Martens,  F.,  Russian  jurist,  532. 

Maryland  (African  settlement),  540. 

Mason  and  Slidell,  21K). 

Matsugata,  Count,  Japanese  states- 
man, 555. 

Maurice,  Prince  of  Saxony,  197. 

Mavromichale;;  family,  163. 

Maximilian,  Emperor  of  Mexico,  429- 
430,  485. 

Mazzini,  Giuseppe,  79,  80,  81,  82,  87. 

Melgarejo,  President  of  Bolivia,  521. 

Menelek,  King  of  Abyssinia,  92. 

Mercedes,  Queen  of  Spain,  106-107. 

Mercedes,  Infanta  of  Spain,  107. 

Mesurado,  Cape,  539. 

Metteruich,  Prince,  25,  27,  37,  78,  139- 
140,  14(;,  l(i2,  198-201,  217. 

Mexico,  47i>-489;  allied  to  the  Latin 
nations,  8;  Church  party,  481-484; 
Empire  established,  481 ;  form  of 
government,  488^89 ;  Frencli  troops 
withdrawn  from  Maximilian,  42!l- 
4;;0;  independence  secured,  481 ;  in- 
vaded by  France,  42;  invaded  by 
Spanish,  French,  and  Britisli  troops, 
484-485 ;  offends  France,  'Xi ;  pros- 
perity under  Diaz,  486-488 ;  religion, 


610 


INDEX 


481 ;  Republic  established,  481 ;  revolt 
against  Spain,  479-481 ;  war  with  the 
United  States,  482-483. 

Michael,  Prince  of  Servia,  158-159, 

Middle  Ages,  3. 

Miguel,  Dom,  117-119. 

Milan,  7G,  77,  81. 

Milan,  King  of  Servia,  159,  160. 

Milan,  Prince  of  Servia,  158. 

Milosh  Obreuovitch,  Prince  of  Servia, 
158,  159. 

Mitre,  Brigadier-General  of  the  Ar- 
gentine Republic,  519. 

Modena,  76,  77,  79,  81,  82,  85. 

Modena,  Duke  of,  79. 

Moldavia,  167-169. 

Moltke,  General  von,  44,  205,  20G. 

Monagas,  General,  of  Venezuela,  531. 

Monroe,  James,  396,  .399-400. 

Monroe  Doctrine,  321,  39S)-400. 

Montefeltro  family,  130,  131. 

Montenegro,  154,  171,  177-179;  Con- 
stitution, 178;  education,  178. 

Montijensier,  Duke  of,  37,  102-103, 
106. 

Montreal,  334. 

Montt,  Jorge,  President  of  Chili,  524. 

Moors,  il6,  113,  114. 

Morazan,  Francisco,  Central  Ameri- 
can patriot,  493-495,  500. 

Morelos,  Jose  Maria,  Mexican  revo- 
lutionary leader,  480. 

Moreno,  Dr.  Gabriel  Garcia,  President 
of  Ecuador,  527. 

Mormons,  407. 

Morton,  Levi  P.,  450. 

Moreau,  General,  22. 

Mountain,  the,  22. 

Mufti,  interpreters  of  the  Koran,  179. 

Muiat,  Marshal,  76. 

Murillo,  Spanish  general,  508. 

Nagato,  Prince  of,  549-550. 

Napier,  Sir  Charles,  119. 

Napier,  Sir  R.,  299. 

Naples,  76,  77,  78,  81,  85,  86. 

Napoleon  I.,  Emperor  of  France,  20, 
28,  76,  131,  139,  181,  198,  216,  507; 
career,  21-27;  relations  with  Den- 
mark, 225;  with  England,  269-272; 
with  the  United  States,  391-392. 

Napoleon  II.,  41. 


Napoleon  III.,  22,  35,  39-45,  50,  82,  84- 
85,  88,  131,  206-207,  485. 

Natal,  366,  371,  373. 

Nathalie,  Queen  of  Servia,  159. 

Nebraska,  415,  430. 

Necker,  Jacques,  16. 

Needle-gun,  43,  205. 

Nelson,  Lord,  21,  25. 

Nemours,  Due  de,  124. 

Nesselrode,  Russian  Chancellor,  292. 

Netherlands,  1,  123. 

Netherlands  East  India  Company,  365. 

New  Brunswick,  331,  334. 

Newfoundland,  7,  345-346. 

New  Granada,  508,  512,  525. 

New  Guinea,  210. 

New  Mexico,  409,  411. 

New  Zealand,  8, 10, 357-364,  570 ;  arbi- 
tration in,  ;3(!2;  finances,  360;  gov- 
ernment, 360-3(>4;  resources,  359. 

New  Zealand  Company,  358. 

Nicaragua,  493-495,  498-499,  504. 

Nice,  80,  85. 

Nicholas  I.,  Tsar  of  Russia,  42,  168, 
182,  183,  184,  187,  218,  292. 

Nicholas  II.,  Tsar  of  Russia,  190-192. 

Nihilism,  185-190. 

Noricum,  137. 

Norway,  5,  225,  242-248. 

Norway  and  Sweden  united,  244. 

Norwegian,  2 ;  temperament  of,  5. 

Nova  Scotia,  331,  334. 

O'Connell,  Daniel,  279. 
O'Donnell,  Spanish  general,  103. 
O'Donoju,  General,  viceroy  of  Mexico, 

481. 
Oesterreich,  Margraviate  of,  137-138. 
Okuma,  Count,  Japanese  statesman, 

555-557. 
Opportunists  in  France,  58. 
Orange  Free  State,  367,  369,  373. 
Orange,  House  of,  215-217. 
Orleanists,  49,  52,  54. 
Orleans,  Duke  of,  65,  67. 
Orleans,  Duke  of,  see  Louis  Philippe. 
Oscar  I.,  King  of  Sweden,  241. 
Oscar  II. ,  King  of  Sweden,  242,  246. 
Ottawa,  334. 
Otto  of  Bavaria,  King  of  Greece,  163- 

1()4. 
Ottomans,  154. 


INDEX 


611 


Oxford,  University  of,  274. 
Ozaki,  Japanese  Minister  of  Educa- 
tion, 55(3. 

Pact  of  1815  (Swiss),  255,  256. 

Paez,  Jose'  Antonio,  509-510,  531. 

Palermo,  86. 

Palmella,  Duke  of,  119. 

Pahner,  Senator,  463. 

Palmerstou,  Lord,  37, 278, 293-294,  298, 
300,  308,  317. 

Panama  Canal,  scandal  of,  64. 

Pannonia,  137. 

Paraguay,  507,  516-518,  519,  527-528. 

Paris,  capitulates  to  the  allies,  25 ; 
makes  and  unmakes  oovernmeuts, 
38;  rebuilt  by  Napoleon  III.,  41; 
riots  in,  3(),  47. 

Paris,  Count  of,  37,  38,  50,  62,  63,  65. 

Paris  Exposition  of  1S89, 63. 

Parisian  populace,  17,  19,  71. 

Parkes,  Sir  Henry,  353,  356. 

Parkman,  Francis,  395. 

Parma,  77,  79,  81,82,  85. 

Parnell,  Charles  Stuart,  307-308,  312, 
314. 

Patagonia,  506. 

Paul,  Tsar  of  Russia,  180. 

Peace  Convention  of  1899,  191. 

Pedro  I.,  Emperor  of  Brazil,  117-120, 
522. 

Pedro  v..  King  of  Portugal,  120. 

Pedro,  Don  Manuel,  President  of  Peru, 
528. 

Peel,  Robert,  275,  278,  288. 

Peerehoom,  van  den,  Belgian  states- 
man, 127. 

Pelloux,  General,  91. 

Perry,  Commodore,  M.  C,  415,  548. 

Perry,  Captain,  415. 

Peru,  .507-509, 51 1 ,  51.3-514, 516,  528-530. 

Pescadores  Islands,  ,\54,  .5.59. 

Petrovitch,  George  (Black  George),  1.57. 

Petrovitch,  Peter,  Prince  of  Montene- 
gro, 178. 

Petrovitch  Nyegush,  Prince  of  Monte- 
negro, 178. 

Philip  II.,  King  of  Spain,  9(3,  114,  123, 
217,221. 

Philip  III.,  King  of  Spain,  9(3. 

Philip  IV.,  King  of  Spain,  97. 

Philippe  Egalite,  34. 


Philippine  Islands,  110,  465-467,  471. 

PhcEuix  Park  murder,  308. 

Picquart,  Colonel,  66,  67. 

Pierce,  Franklin,  413-416. 

Pitt,  Wil'.iam,  267,  2(59,  270,  275,  278. 

Pius  VI.,  Pope  of  Rome,  76. 

Pins  VII.,  Pope  of  Rome,  76. 

Pius  VIII.,  Pope  of  Rome,  79. 

Pius  IX.,  Pope  of  Rome,  80,  81,  131, 
208,  209. 

Plevna,  siege  of,  169. 

Plinisoll,  British  legislator,  304. 

Poland,  29;  becomes  a  Russian  prov- 
ince, 182. 

Poles,  the,  5. 

Polignac,  Prince,  32. 

Polk,  James  K.,  408. 

Port  Arthur,  ceded  to  Russia,  324. 

Portland,  Duke  of,  270. 

Portocallo,  114. 

Porto  Rico,  466,  471. 

Portugal,  113-121 ;  constitutional  gov- 
ernment, 116-117,  120-121;  Cortes, 
116,  118-120;  education,  120; 
finances,  121;  freed  from  France, 
116;  geography  of,  113;  Inquisition 
in,  114;  in.surrection  of  1820,  117; 
loses  her  colonies,  115,  522;  Na- 
poleon in,  115-116;  political  unrest 
of,  4,  8;  rebels  against  Spain,  115; 
religion,  114;  sixty  years' captivity, 
115. 

Portuguese  explorers,  114. 

Pra  Yaut,  case  of,  69. 

Pribiloff  Islands,  342. 

Prim,  General,  104,  105. 

Prince  Edward  Island,  3.31,  334. 

Protot  >]  of  London,  103. 

Provence,  ('onnt  of,  see  Louis  XVIII. 

Prussia.  88-89,  1.39,  144,  198,  199,  200, 
201,  202,  203,  204,  205,  206,  207,  212; 
annexes  Schleswig,  205;  combines 
with  Austria  and  Piedmont  to  re- 
store Louis  XVI.,  19;  governed  for 
the  aristocracy,  1;  humbled  by  Na- 
poleon, 25. 

Radet.sky,  Austrian  general,  81.  82. 

Rainsford,  Marcus,  "  Black  Empire  of 
Haiti,"  .542. 

Rattazzi,  Minister  under  Victor  Em- 
manuel, 87-88. 


612 


INDEX 


Reconcentrados,  110. 

"Red  Shirts"   (Garibaldi's  soldiers), 
80. 

Reformation,  the,  197. 

Regalado,  Tomaso,  politician  of  Sal- 
vador, 4<)9. 

Reid,  Whitelaw,  455. 

Reign  of  Terror,  the,  19,  27,  238. 

Renues,  68. 

Repnblic  of  Natalia,  366. 

Repiiblica  Dominicana,  545. 

Republicans  in  France,  48,  52,  58,  64. 

Revolution,  age  of,  29. 

Rhine,    the,    made    the    frontier    of 
France,   20,  22. 

Ricasoli,  Baron  Bettino,  successor  of 
Cavour,  87. 

Riclielieu,  15. 

Riel,  Louis,  Canadian  insurrectionary 
leader,  339. 

Riener,  van,  Dutch  statesman,  220. 

Rigsdag,  of  Denmark,  228. 

Rimini,  i;30,  131. 

Rio  de  la  Plata,  507. 

Ripen,  Lord,  563. 

Ritualism  in  England,  304,  326-327. 

Rivadavia,  Bernardino,    reformer  at 
Buenos  Ayres,  517,  518,  519. 

Roberts,  Joseph  J.,  President  of  Libe- 
ria, 540. 

Robesjiierre,  Maximilien,  19,  21. 

Rodolf ,  Emperor  of  Germany,  138. 

Rodriguez,   General,  M.  D.,  ruler  at 
Buenos  Ayres,  517. 

Roland,  Madame,  executed,  19. 

Rome,  88. 

Romilly,  Sir  Samuel,  284. 

Rondeau,    Jose',    director    of    Buenos 
Ayres,  517. 

Rosas,  dictator  at  Buenos  Ayres,  519. 

Rosebery,  Lord,  316,  317,  318. 

Rossi,  Count,  assassinated,  81. 

Rousseau,  Jean  Jacques,  180. 

Rudini,    Marquis    di,    Italian    Prime 
Minister,  90-91. 

Rugen,  Island  of,  238. 

Rumania,  167-170. 

Rumanians,  150. 

Rush,  Richard,   National  Republican 
vice-presidential  candidate,  402. 

Russell,  Lord  John,  275,  282,  283,  295, 
296,  300. 


Russia,  180-193;  aids  Austria  in  sub- 
duing Hungary,  142;  aids  Greece, 
162, 182 ;  an  absolute  monarchy,  180 ; 
area  and  population,  193;  becomes  a 
great  European  power,  181 ;  Church 
in,  193;  commerce,  182,  184,  188; 
Council  of  Empire  instituted,  181 ; 
defeats  Turkey,  188-189;  diplo- 
macy, 190;  education,  182,  184,  193; 
emancipation  of  the  serfs,  181, 
184,  185 ;  governed  for  the  aristoc- 
racy, 4;  in  Asia,  182,  188;  invaded 
by  Napoleon,  25 ;  is  slow  to  interfere 
in  behalf  of  the  Armenians,  318; 
loses  control  of  the  Black  Sea,  42; 
Nihilism,  185-190;  obtains  the  right 
of  navigation  in  the  Black  Sea,  the 
Dardanelles, etc.,  183;  oppresses  the 
Finns,  192;  Polish  insurrection,  185; 
progi'essive  character  of  its  civ- 
ilization, 10,  181,  184,  187,  191-192; 
railroads,  188,  190;  relations  with 
Bulgaria,  171-175;  with  China,  190, 
324-325;  with  Germany,  208;  with 
Persia,  182 :  with  Rumania,  168-169 ; 
with  Servia,  158-159,  188. 

Russo-Turkish  War,  165, 169, 188,  304- 
305. 

Ruthenians,  5. 

Sagasta,  Praxedes  Mateo,  108,  110. 

Saldanha,  Duke  of,  119. 

Salic  Law,  in  Simin,  100;  in  Holland, 
216. 

Salisbury,  Lord,  311-312,  314,  316-318 
321,  322,  323,  461. 

Salvador,  Republic  of,  493-496,  498, 
503-504. 

Sampson,  Admiral,  465. 

San  Juan,  island  of,  431,  470. 

San  Juan  de  UUoa,  35. 

San  Marino,  89,  130-132. 

San  Martin,  Jose'  de,  510-511,  512. 

San  Stephano,  Peace  of,  188. 

Santa  Anna,  482-483. 

Santander,  Vice-President  of  Colom- 
bia, 514. 

Santo  Cesario,  assassin,  65. 

Santo  Domingo,  9,  542-543,  545-546. 

Sardinia,  75,  77,  81,  82,  83,  84,  85. 

Satsuma,  Prince  of,  549-550. 

Savoy,  75,  79,  85. 


INDEX 


613 


Saxe-Weimar,  Grand  Duke  of,  199. 
Saxon, the,  2. 

Saxony,  29,  20(1,  201,  202,  206. 
Scheurer-Kestner,  French  statesman, 

m. 

Schley,  Admiral,  465. 

Schurz,  Carl,  203,  432,  441. 

Scotland,  206. 

Scott,  General  Winfield,  413. 

Seal  fisheries,  question  between  Can- 
ada and  the  United  States,  341,  343, 
431,  469. 

Sebastopol,  42, 184. 

Seljuks,  154. 

Sepoy  Mutiny,  294-295. 

Serbs,  156,  175. 

Serrano,  General,  104,  105. 

Servia,  157-161 ;  Constitution,  159-161; 
freed  from  Turkish  rule,  159,  171, 
188. 

Sewall,  Arthur,  462. 

Seward,  William  H.,  416. 

Seymour,  Horatio,  4.30. 

Shaftesbury,  Earl  of,  275,  287. 

Shaw,  William,  Irish  political  leader, 
;%7. 

Sherbro  Island,  539. 

Sherman,  John,  437,  443. 

Shikoku,  559. 

Sliimonoseki,  Strait  of,  550. 

Siam,  565-567. 

Siberia,  9,  192. 

Sicily,  76,  78,  81,  86. 

Sigurdson,  Jon,  234. 

Silesia,  140. 

Simon,  Jules,  46,  53. 

Single  tax  movement,  439,  453. 

Slavs,  5,  10,  137,  138,  140-141,  143, 144, 
149,  150,  156,  160,  172. 

Slidell,  2«K). 

!Snell,  Ludwig,  Swiss  reformer,  254. 

Social  Democrats,  growth  of  in  Ger- 
many, 6. 

Socialists,  in  America,  446,462-463;  in 
France,  63, 64 ;  in  Germany,  209-210. 

Somaliland,  210. 

Sonderbund,  in  Switzerland,  2.")5. 

Sonuino,  Baron,  Italian  financier,  95. 

Soudan,  the,  320,  322-323. 

Soult,  Marshal,  35,  .'56. 

South  Africa,  10,  3(i.5-379 ;  claims  made 
by  European    powers,  371 ;    Dutch 


settlements,  365;  English  settle- 
ments, 36.5-367;  government,  367- 
369,  373;  native  tribes,  367;  re- 
sources, 368-370;  slavery  abolished, 
366. 

South  America,  506-533 ;  allied  to  the 
Latin  nations,  8;  Confederation 
Granadina,  525 ;  the  United  Prov- 
inces of  Rio  de  la  Plata,  516-517, 519. 

Spain,  96-112  ;  anarchists  in,  108 ;  Carl- 
ist  movement,  lO),  101,  105,  106; 
cedes  the  Philippines  to  the  United 
States,  110 ;  Cortes,  the,  98,  99,  102, 
10.3-104,  107 ;  Cuban  insurrection, 
1868-78,  105,  108;  insurrection  of 
1895,  109-111,  461,  465;  decline,  96- 
97;  democracy,  97,  102;  education, 
108, 112 ;  finances,  108 ;  form  of  gov- 
ernment, 112;  French  army  in,  100; 
governed  for  the  aristocracy,  1 ;  in 
America,  479-481,  490,  506-509;  in- 
surrection of  1820,99;  of  1854,  103; 
of  1868,  104;  Liberals,  99,  100,101; 
loses  Santo  Domingo,  545-546; 
Moors,  {K3;  political  unrest,  4,  8; 
regency  of  Maria  Christina,  107, 
108 ;  of  Serrano,  105 ;  religious  policy, 
9(;,  99,  100,  101,  112;  Republic  under 
Castelar,  106;  revenues  from  Amer- 
ican possessions,  96 ;  revolt  of  the 
Netherlands  in  1566,  122 ;  revolt  of 
Mexico,  479-481 ;  of  the  South  Amer- 
ican Colonies,  99;  royal  succession 
and  the  Salic  Law,  100 ;  sells  the  two 
Floridas,  99;  under  Napoleon  I.,  97- 
98. 

Spaniard,  the,  2. 

Spanish  Constitution,  77. 

Spanish  marriages,  37,  103. 

Speranski,  liberal  Russian  Minister, 
182. 

Staal,  de,  Russian  ambassador,  191. 

StambulofT,  Stephen,  172-174. 

Stanton,  Edwin  M.,  428-429. 

States-General,  the,  summoned  in 
Kill,  15;  in  1789,  17. 

States  of  the  Church,  the,  29,  75,  76, 
77,  79,  88,  89. 

Stephens,  Alexander,  413,  420. 

Stevenson,  Adlai  E.,  4.55. 

Storthing,  national  Diet  of  Norway, 
244. 


614 


INDEX 


Stralsund,  238. 

Strasburg,  39. 

Sucre,  General  Antonio  Jose  de,  510. 

Suez  Canal,  308. 

Sumatra,  221. 

Sumner,  Charles,  413,  416. 

Sweden,  1,  5,  237-242. 

Sweden  and  Norway,  236-248 ;  friction 
between,  246-247. 

Swiss  Confederation,  6. 

Swiss  guards,  massacre  of,  19. 

Swiss  people,  political  development  of, 
570. 

Switzerland,  249-260 ;  classed  with  the 
Germanic  countries,  6 ;  Constitution, 
257-258;  controlled  by  an  aristoc- 
racy, 1 ;  Popular  Initiative,  258 ;  rec- 
ognized as  an  independent  power, 
253;  Referendum,  257-260. 

Tacna,  claimed  by  Pern  and  Chili,  529. 

Takaliu,  Empei'or  of  Japan,  547. 

Talien-wan,  324. 

Talleyrand,  Duke  of,  28. 

Tarapaca,  ceded  to  Peru,  529. 

Tasman,  Dutch  navigator,  347. 

Taylor,  Zachary,  410,  412. 

Teba,  Countess  of,  see  Eugenie. 

Terceira,  118. 

Teutonic  countries,  national  character 
in,  5,  6. 

Teutonic  peoples,  4,  10. 

Texas,  407-408,  411. 

Theodore,  King  of  Abyssinia,  299. 

Tliessaly,  164-165,  166. 

Thorbecke,  de,  Dutch  Liberal  leader, 
218,  220,  221. 

Thurman,  Allen  G.,  450. 

Tilden,  Samuel  J.,  434,  4.36. 

Thyies  (London) ,  293,  312. 

Ting,  Admiral,  554. 

Tokio,  551. 

Torre-Tagle,  Marquis  of,  514. 

Toussaint  L'Ouverture,  542. 

Trans-Siberian  Railway,  liX),  324. 

Transvaal,  305-307,  367,  369,  373-379. 

Transylvania,  151,  167. 

Treaties:  Akerman,  168;  Amiens,  22, 
365;  Berlin,  165,  169,  171-172;  1818, 
341;  Frankfort,  47,  49;  Frederiks- 
borg,  227;  Kiel,  243;  Luueville,  22; 
Mississippi,    389;    Paris,    169,    184; 


Utrecht,  123,  345;  Valen^ay,  98; 
Washington,  341;  Westphalia,  249. 

Treaty  of  "benevolent  neutrality" 
between  Germany  and  Russia,  208. 

Trent  Affair,  296. 

Trepoff,  General,  shot  by  Vera  Zas- 
sulic,  186. 

Triple  Alliance,  the,  60,  89,208. 

Trusts,  448-449. 

Tuileries,  the,  invaded  and  sacked,  19. 

Tupac  Amaru  II. ,  507. 

Turin,  78. 

Turk,  the,  5. 

Turkey  (in  Europe),  178-179;  men- 
aced by  Russia,  42, 182, 183, 188,  292; 
not  represented  in  the  Congress  of 
Vienna,  28  ;  relations  with  Armenia, 
317-318;  with  Bulgaria,  170-171; 
with  Greece,  161-167;  with  Molda- 
via and  Wallachia,  167-1()9;  with 
Montenegro,  177;  with  Servia,  157- 
159. 

Turks  in  the  Balkan  Peninsula,  154- 
159. 

Tuscany,  76,  77,  80,  81,  82,  85. 

Two  Sicilies,  the,  76. 

Tyler,  John,  407-408. 

Tyrol,  the,  89. 

Uitlanders,  319,  375-378. 

Ulema.  Turkish  Council,  179. 

Ultra-Montaues,  in  Belgium,  126. 

United  Irishmen,  267. 

United  States,  383-473;  Alabama 
Claims,  297,  303,  431,  470;  Alaska 
purcliased,  430;  Alien  Labor  Laws, 
469 ;  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws, 391 ;  an 
Anglo-Saxon  country,  8 ;  Anti-Fed- 
eralist party,  387-392,  401 ;  Articles 
of  Confederation,  383;  Chinese  im- 
migration,446  ;  Civil  Service  Reform , 
437,  442-443,  445,  4(il-462,  470-471, 
570;  Civil War,29(3,422-425;  Compro- 
mise Tariff,  405,  411;  Congress,  383, 
385;  Constitution,  3S3-,386,  S'lO,  427, 
429,  430,  4(i7-46S;  Twelfth  Amend- 
ment to,  391  ;  Thirteenth  Amendment 
to,  427;  Fourteenth  Amendment  to, 
427^28;  Fifteenth  Amendment  to, 
430;  C(mtract  Labor  Act  (1885)  446; 
Declaration  of  Independence,  383; 
Democrats,   401,  405,  407,  408,  410, 


INDEX 


615 


413,  416-417,  419-420,  430,  432,  434- 
436,  441,  444-445,  450,  435,  456,  462- 
464;  Dingley  Bill,  4(i4;  Electoral 
Ckimmissiou,  the  (1876)435-436;  Em- 
bargo Bill,  3<J2-3'.»3;  Era  of  Good 
Feeling,  396,  401;  Federalist  party, 
387-392,  401,  402;  finances,  387, 
3y5-3!)(i,  405,  406,  407,  424-125,  430, 
433,  434,  437-438,  439-440,  443,  451- 
453,  456-457, 464,  468-4()9;  First  Con- 
tinental Congress,  383;  first  treaty 
with  Japan,  414-415;  Free  Silver 
party,  434,  439-140,  453,  462-464; 
Free  Soil  party,  409-410,  413,  416; 
Gold  Democrats,  462-4(i3;  Green- 
back party,  434;  Imperialism,  467, 
471-472;  Independent  party,  432; 
Indian  affairs,  401,  433,  441;  influ- 
ence of  the,  on  Spanish-American 
States,  9;  Kansas-Nebraslca  Bill, 
415-416;  Kuovv-Nothing  party,  417  ; 
laboring  classes,  438-439,  446,  45!)- 
460,  571-572;  Louisiana  Purchase, 
392;  lynch  law,  454;  McKinley  Bill, 
451,  452,  453,  456,  464;  Mississippi 
Treaty,  389;  Missouri  Compi'omise 
Bill,  399,  411,  415,  418;  National 
Bank,  403-404,  407;  National  Re- 
publican party,  401-402,  405;  natu- 
ralization of  citizens,  414 ;  negro 
suffrage,  427-128,  4:30,  433,  434-435; 
Non-Intercourse  Act,  ;>93-391 ;  Nul- 
lification, 404;  Omnibus  Bill,  411- 
412,415;  Oregon  boundary  decided 
by  the  German  Emperor,  433;  pen- 
sion abuses,  446,  452;  political  cor- 
ruption, 385,  432-433,  472^73;  Pop- 
ulist party,  455,  462;  protection, 
388,  395-396,  402,  443,  450-451,  464; 
rapid  growth,  415, 417, 431;  reciproc- 
ity, 453,  469;  reconstruction  period, 
427-428,  430,  431.  432,  VM;  relations 
with  Canada,  338-339,  431 .  4()9-470 ; 
with  England,  383,  389,  392,  394-395, 
470;  with  France,  38f»-3<)0,  391,  392- 
393,394;  with  Hawaii,  461 ;  Repub- 
lican party,  4]()-417,  419-420,  427- 
429,  430,  431,  432,  433,  4;^43(!,  441, 
444-445,  450,  452,  455,  456,  462-464; 
secession  of  slave  States,  420-421; 
Sherman  Act,  451, 456;  slavery,  386: 
396-399,  402,  408-410,  411,  413,  421, 


422,  423 ;  Spanish  claims  to  the  Mis- 
sissippi River,  389;  spoils  system, 
403.  437, 442-443,  445,  470-171 ;  squat- 
ter sovereignty,  419;  State  social- 
ism, 449;  State  sovereignty,  401; 
sub-treasury  system  adopted,  406; 
tariff  laws,  404-405,  443,  445,  449, 
450-451,  452,  458-459,  464,  569;  Ten- 
ure of  Office  Act,  428-429;  trusts, 
448;  Venezuela  question,  321,  460- 
461,  532,  533;  War  of  1812,  271-272, 
394-395  ;  War  of  Independence,  383- 
384;  war  with  Mexico,  407,  409, 
482-18;;;  war  with  Spain,  110,  465- 
46(;;  Whig  party,  405,  407,  408,  410, 
413,416;  Wilmot  Proviso,  409  ;  Wil- 
son Bill,  458. 

Universal  suffrage,  4. 

University  of  France,  23. 

Urgel,  Bishop  of,  and  Andorra,  133. 

Uruguay,  507,  516-518,  527,  530-531. 

Usugara,  German  colony,  210. 

Utah,  407,  411. 

Uzes,  Duchess  d',  63. 

Van  Buren,  Martin,  405-406,  407,  409, 

410. 
Vasco  de  Gama,  115,  366. 
Vendome  column,  51. 
Venetia,  84-85.  88,  206. 
^'enezuela,  507-509,  512,  514,  515,  516, 

531-533. 
Venezuela  question,  320-321,  460-461, 

532-533. 
Venice,  42,  76,  77,81,82. 
Venice,  Republic  of,  75. 
Vera  Zassulic,  186. 
Versailles,  4(i,  207. 
Victor  Emmanuel  I.,  77,  78. 
Victor  Emmanuel  II.,  82-90. 
Victoria,  Queen  of  Great  Britain,  88, 

220,  286,  2iK),  .'W. 
Vienna,  insuri-ection  in,  140. 
Vlach,  the,  5,  156,  1(J7-169,  175. 
Voltaire,  Francois  M.  A.  de,  180. 

Wakefield,  Edward  Gibbon,  351,  358, 

.360. 
Wales,  Alexandra,  Princess  of,  230. 
Wallachia,  1(;7-168. 
Walloons,  122-123,  128. 
Washington,  Bushrod,  539. 


616 


INDEX 


Washington,  George,  387,  389-390,  513. 

Watsou,  Thomas  E.,  462. 

Wayne,  Anthony,  389. 

Weaver,  People's  party  presidential 

candidate,  456. 
Webster,  Daniel,  404-405,  407,  411-412. 
Wei-Hai-Wei,   acquired  by  England, 

324. 
Wellington,  Duke  of,  25,  26,  55,  62, 

272,  278-279,  281,  283,  290,  310. 
Weyler,  General,  109-110,  465. 
Wheeler,  William  A.,  443. 
Whiskey  Ring,  433. 
White,  Hugh  L.,  presidential  candi- 
date in  1836,  405. 
Whitney,  Eli,  396. 
Wilhelm,    Prince    of    Denmark,    see 

George  I.,  King  of  Greece. 
Wilhelmina,  Queen  of  Holland,  222. 
William  I.,  German  Emperor  and  King 

of  Prussia,  43,  46,  204,  207,  211. 
William    II.,    German  Emperor    and 

King  of  Prussia,  6,  211,  213. 
William   IV.,  King  of  England,  279, 

282,  283,  286,  358. 
William  I.,  King  of  the  Netherlands, 

217. 


William  II.,  King  of  Holland,  217,  218. 
William   III.,  King  of  Holland,   218, 

901     900 

*— -I,      *JW-I. 

William  Y.,  Stadtholder  of  Holland, 

215-216. 
Wilson  (Grevy's  son-in-law),  62. 
Wilson,  Henry,  432. 
Witwatersrand,  369. 
Wolseley,  Sir  Garnet,  306. 
Wurtemberg,  199,  201. 

Yamagata,  Marquis,  Japanese  states- 
man, 557. 
Yezo,  island  of,  547,  559. 
Yoritomo,  Shogun  of  Japan,  547. 
Young  Italy,  Society  of,  79,  80. 
Ypsilanti,  Alexander,  168. 

Zalvidar,  President  of  Salvador,  497- 
498. 

Zanyon,  compromise  of,  108. 

Zelaya,  Santos,  President  of  Nica- 
ragua, 504. 

Zola,  Emile,  66,  68. 

Zollverein,  the,  200. 

Zumalacarregui,  Carlist  general,  100- 
101. 


THE  UNITED  STATES 

AN   OUTLINE   OF   POLITICAL   HISTORY,    1492-1871 

By  GOLDWIN   SMITH,  D.C.L. 

Crown  8vo.       Cloth.       $2.00 


"The  brilliant  comment  of  a  liberal  Englishman  on  the  history  and  in- 
stitutions of  this  country  is  of  the  utmost  value  to  Americans,  who  will  not 
be  repelled  by  its  occasional  harshness,  by  its  occasional  injustice,  but  who 
will  be  materially  helped  to  a  juster  conception  of  the  results  of  American 
civilization,  and  will  be  immensely  entertained  and  interested  by  the  vivacity 
and  freshness  with  which  the  comments  are  made."  —  The  Outlook. 

"Of  this  last  production  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  Smith,  a  reader  will  not 
hesitate  to  speak  his  judgment  in  the  highest  terms  of  respect  and  commenda- 
tion. Its  three  hundred  of  open  pages,  of  terse  and  often  brilliant  and 
epigrammatic  matter,  make  it  a  marvellous  condensation  of  historical  narrative 
and  of  philosophic  comment  on  principles,  men,  events,  and  incidents.  Its 
judgment  upon  our  politicians,  statesmen,  military  leaders,  orators,  and  presi- 
dents, are  sometimes  keen,  but  always  intelligent,  impartial,  and  discriminat- 
ing."—  Boston  Evening  Transcript. 


THE  UNITED  KINGDOM 

A    POLITICAL   HISTORY 

By  GOLDWIN    SMITH,   D.C.L. 

Author  of  "The  United  States,  a  Political  History,"  etc. 

Two  Volumes.    Crown  8vo.    $4.00 


Professor  Smith  has  treated  his  second  work  with  the  same  suc- 
cinctness, and  with  the  same  epigrammatic  force  and  weight,  as  he  did 
his  work  on  the  United  States,  which  T/ie  Nation  characterized  as  "a 
literary  masterpiece,  as  readable  as  a  novel,  remarkable  for  its  compres- 
sion without  dryness,  and  its  brilliancy  without  any  rhetorical  effort  or 
display.''^ 

"  Prof.  Smith's  attractive  style  has  often  been  commented  on  as  '  simple, 
unaffected,  and  always  lucid.'  "  —  Times- Fler aid,  Chicago. 

"The  author  has,  as  those  who  know  him  do  not  need  to  be  told,  a  style 
which  is  nothing  less  than  fascinating;  ...  its  lucidity,  its  graphic  narration, 
its  constant  avoidance  of  even  an  approach  to  dulness  are  quite  as  remarkaljle 
as  its  incisiveness  of  judgment  and  originality  of  view."  —  Providence  jfournal. 


THE    MACMILLAN    COMPANY 

66  FIFTH   AVENUE,    NEW   YORK 


THE  AMERICAN  COMMONWEALTH 

By  The  Right  Hon.  JAMES   BRYCE,  D.C.L. 
Medium  8vo.     Cloth.     Two  volumes.     $4.00  net 


The  latest  edition  includes,  The  Tammany  Ring  in  New  York  City,  The 

Present  and  Future,  The  South  Since  the  War,  and  The  Home  of  the  Nation. 

"  This  work  will  be  invaluable  ...  to  the  American  citizen  who  wishes  some- 
thing more  than  a  superficial  knowledge  of  the  political  system  under  which  he 
lives  and  of  the  differences  between  it  and  those  of  other  countries.  .  .  .  The  fact 
is  that  no  writer  has  ever  attempted  to  present  so  comprehensive  an  account  of  our 
political  system,  founded  upon  such  length  of  observation,  enriched  with  so  great  a 
mass  of  detail,  and  so  thoroughly  practical  in  its  character.  .  .  .  We  have  here  a 
storehouse  ot  political  information  regarding  America  such  as  no  other  writer, 
American  or  other,  has  ever  provided  in  one  work.  ...  It  will  remain  a  standard 
even  for  the  American  reader."  —  New  York  Tribune. 


The   Student^s  Edition 


OF 


THE  AMERICAN  COMMONWEALTH 

Revised  by  the  Author  with  the  assistance  of  Professor  Jesse  Macy 

of  Iowa  College. 

i2mo.        Cloth.        $1.75  net 


DEMOCRACY    AND    EMPIRE 

By  FRANKLIN   H.  GIDDINGS,  Ph.D. 

Professor  of  Sociology  in  Columbia  University,  Author  of  "The  Principles  of  Sociology' 

"  Theory  of  Socialization,"  etc. 

8vo.     Cloth.    $2.50 


"  It  is  not  a  volume  for  light  reading,  but  it  is  one  that  cannot  fail  to  command 
attention  and  to  exercise  a  considerable  iniluence.  .  .  .  The  work  as  a  whole  is 
the  most  profound  and  closely  reasoned  defence  of  territorial  expansion  that  has 
yet  appeared  ;  .  .  .  the  volume  is  one  of  rare  thoughtfulness  and  insight.  It  is  a 
calm,  penetrating  study  of  the  trend  of  civilization  and  of  our  part  in  it,  as  seen  in 
the  light  of  history  and  of  evolutionary  philosophy." —  Chicago  Tribune. 


THE    MACMILLAN    COMPANY 

66   FIFTH   AVENUE,   NEW   YORK 


6-&i) 


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